Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The agrarian sector, production of food products and other fields can be promising spheres for expanding cooperation between Azerbaijan and Poland, Jerzy Drozdz said on March 31.

The director of the Foreign Relations Department of Poland's National Chamber of Commerce made this remark during a meeting with Azerbaijani journalists in Warsaw.

"We positively assess the cooperation with Azerbaijan, especially between small and medium-sized enterprises and want the Polish entrepreneurs to establish cooperation with their Azerbaijani colleagues. Certain agreements have been reached in the sphere of industrial production and I hope these agreements will be implemented in the near future," Drozdz said.

He went on to say that the Polish entrepreneurs are gradually moving to a new stage of cooperation, namely to the stage of making investments.

Drozdz also noted several Polish companies make investments in Turkey, as well as in a number of countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). These companies also expressed readiness to participate in the Azerbaijani market.

"Azerbaijan is known as the world's oil country, and everything that is connected with the oil industry is also interesting for Polish entrepreneurs," the department director said.

Polish companies can also export high quality construction materials to Azerbaijan, Drozdz added.

"Polish firms have found a way for entering some markets with high quality products at low prices. And Azerbaijan can be another such market," the department director said.

These aspects of future cooperation will be a subject of discussion in negotiations during the next meeting of Azerbaijan-Poland intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation to be held in April in Baku, Drozdz stressed.

"A business forum can be organized within the intergovernmental commission. Many Polish companies may be interested in making investments in Azerbaijan, especially in the areas such as ICT, infrastructure, transport, urban infrastructure, agro-industrial sphere and others," he noted.

Drozdz believes Poland is also interested in Azerbaijan's experience in the oil production field.

"Poland has small oil and natural gas fields and Azerbaijan can share its experience in this sphere," the department head said.

Poland recognized the independence of Azerbaijan in December 1991. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in February 1992.

The Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee has said the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Poland amounted to $24.19 million in the first six months of 2013.

Azerbaijan mainly exports agricultural and chemical products to Poland.