Azernews.Az

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia will reach $2 billion this year, the Russian trade representative in Azerbaijan, Yuri Shedrin, has said.
He told a press conference in Baku on Thursday that transactions worth $1.041bn were carried out between the two countries in the first half of 2008, a 55.9% increase over the same period of last year.
Shedrin said Russia ranks second in the South Caucasus republic`s foreign trade. Azerbaijan exported commodities totaling $191.1m to its northern neighbor from January-June, with most of the volume made up in agricultural goods.
"The economic and trade relations between the two countries have developed considerably in past years. The first half of 2008 was particularly remarkable in this respect," Shedrin said.
According to Shedrin, investment by Russian companies in the Azerbaijani economy tripled, compared to the first half of 2007, to reach 3 million manats ($3.7 million).
"Unfortunately, we have been unable to accomplish a breakthrough on investment in Russian-Azerbaijani relations so far. Although the figure did triple in the first half of the year, we believe these indicators are inaccurate, and are debating with Azerbaijan`s statistics bodies on the issue."
Shedrin said about 500 companies with Russian capital are currently operating in Azerbaijan, including 167 that are fully Russian-owned, which suggests that the actual volume of Russian investment in the country is much greater.