Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijan may participate in the construction of small oil refineries in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan's Industry and Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said on September 4 during the meeting with the Afghan delegation headed by Afghanistan's Mines and Petroleum Minister Wahidullah Shahrani.

According to Aliyev, currently, Afghanistan carries out great work to restore its economy and Azerbaijan is ready to participate in these processes.

"Relations between the two countries should not be confined to trade, we should develop new spheres of cooperation and increase investments," Aliyev said.

He expressed his confidence that the ties between Azerbaijan and Afghanistan will be strengthened and expanded.

Shahrani, in turn, said that the volume of Azerbaijani investments to Afghanistan has increased in recent years, and this visit is very significant from this point of view.

The Afghan delegation will hold several meetings in Azerbaijan's state structures, including state energy company SOCAR.

Furthermore, after the meeting Aliyev told journalists that Azerbaijan and Afghanistan are preparing to sign a memorandum of understanding in the sphere of energy.

According to him, the document which is considered to become 'a road map' of cooperation between the two countries' ministries is planned to be signed in Kabul in November.

"We discussed the issue of economic cooperation, especially in oil and gas spheres including ways of expanding Afghanistan's resource base, conducting search exploration work and Azerbaijan's assistance in the oil refining area," Aliyev said.

According to him, the ministries also viewed the possibility of creating of a joint working group, under which Azerbaijani experts will study data about Afghanistan and offer consultations about how a resource base can be effectively used in this country.

Azerbaijan also offers Afghanistan the chance to help in training oil industry specialists.

Shahrani told journalists that Afghanistan is also interested in using Azerbaijan's transit opportunities and in negotiations with Turkmenistan in this regard.

The Azerbaijani Ambassador to Afghanistan and Pakistan Dashgin Shikarov said earlier that Azerbaijan is among the top five countries, which invest in Afghanistan.

"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.

Recently, an oil refinery was 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.

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.