Austria interested in tourism, pharmacy in Azerbaijan
By Nigar Orujova
Austria and Azerbaijan have a number of priority areas that can be used to enhance cooperation, the Commercial Attaché of the Austrian Embassy in Azerbaijan, Christoph Pfeifer, told Trend.
He made the remark at the Azerbaijan-Austria Business Forum in Baku on October 19. The business forum is organized with support from AZPROMO and Austria’s Chamber of Commerce.
“Despite the fact that the oil and gas sector remains the main point for relations between Austria and Azerbaijan, there are a number of directions for the development of economic relations and cooperation between our countries,” he said.
The business forum is aimed at establishing relations between Azerbaijani and Austrian companies to exchange experiences and find mutual interests, he noted.
Pfeifer stressed that Austrian companies are interested in expanding cooperation with Azerbaijani entrepreneurs along with entrance to the local market.
“We have brought 16 companies operating in various fields to Azerbaijan. By this, we want to contribute to the diversification of economic relations between our countries. Some 20 Austrian companies already operate in Azerbaijan. They provide a variety services in the architectural sector as well as in the oil and engineering fields, supplying Azerbaijan with various equipment,” the attaché said.
Pfeifer stressed that the tourism and pharmaceutical sectors are potential areas for future cooperation.
“In recent years, Azerbaijan had very serious reforms in the field of pharmaceuticals, and I believe that this sector is very promising for the expansion of relations between our countries,” he said.
“Tourism is another promising and interesting direction both for Azerbaijan and for Austria. I want to note, some Austrian companies in Azerbaijan are already providing services in this area. In addition, there are a number of agreements, including on exchange of students between our tourism universities,” said Pfeifer.
The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Austria was $350.22 million in January-August 2015, or 12.97 percent less than the same period in 2014, Azerbaijan’s State Customs Committee reports.
Meanwhile, $293.27 million in Azerbaijani goods were exported to Austria.
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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar
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