Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The governments of Azerbaijan and Afghanistan will sign an agreement on cooperation in the energy field in the near future, Azerbaijani ambassador to Afghanistan and Pakistan Dashgin Shikarov told Trend on August 27.

The document is scheduled for signing during the visit of Afghan Mines and Petroleum Minister Wahidullah Shahrani to Azerbaijan in early September, Shikarov underscored.

Currently Azerbaijan is among the top five countries, which invest in Afghanistan and is ready to expand its investments in the country, he added.

"Five years ago an Azerbaijani investor with his Afghan partner invested $30 million in oil refining in Afghanistan. We are ready to invest about $1 to 2 billion in different sectors in Afghanistan in the near future based on the plans for private and public sector in Azerbaijan," Shikarov stressed.

Currently an oil refinery has been launched in Mazari-Sharif which was constructed through financing by both Afghan and Azerbaijani investors. The refining capacity of the plant is 500 tons of crude oil per day. It is planned to increase the plant's daily capacity to 1,500 tons.

According to Shikarov, large reserves of natural gas were discovered in the southern part of Afghanistan, and Azerbaijan with huge experience in oil and gas sector offered to use the experience of Azerbaijani specialists during the field development in this country.

During the visit the delegation headed by Afghan Minister of Mines and Petroleum will hold meetings in the ministries of Azerbaijan and discuss all actual issues of future cooperation.

As a result of negotiations it is planned to sign several bilateral documents on development of cooperation, he noted.

According to Shikarov, Afghanistan is also interested in Azerbaijani investment in country's energy sector and the Afghan government provides all the guarantees for the security of investments.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Afghanistan amounted to $119.92 million in 2012.

The share of Afghanistan in Azerbaijan's foreign trade turnover was 0.36 percent, including 0.5 percent made up by Azerbaijan's export, in 2012. The trade turnover with Afghanistan increased by 19.66 percent compared to 2011.