Baku, Minsk expand economic interaction

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

A delegation of Azerbaijani officials and businessmen led by Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev visited Belarus on December 15-17 to discuss trade and economic cooperation.

Azerbaijani and Belarusian companies signed about 40 agreements and protocols of intent on export of Azerbaijani goods to Belarus during the business meeting "Prospects of development of business relations between Azerbaijan and Belarus" held in Minsk.

The signed agreements cover export of such products as carpets, wine, tobacco, cotton, and vegetables, fruits, fruit juices and other products.

The business meeting provided the representatives of the two countries’ companies with an opportunity to eye interaction in the fields of agriculture, especially fruit and vegetable production, rug weaving and wool articles manufacturing, animal breeding, car making.

The sides also agreed on opening of trade house of Azerbaijan in Belarus as there is huge desire to increase the trade turnover between the two countries.

Speaking at the business meeting, the minister said that the trade house will initially be established in the capital city, but the country intends to set up sale points throughout Belarus. Mustafayev highly assessed the quality of the Belarusian products that are in great demand in Azerbaijan.

The minister underlined that the relations between Azerbaijan and Belarus are developing steadily on political and socio-economic levels, mentioning that the countries intend to increase the volume of trade turnover to $700 million.

Mustafayev went on saying that the countries are interested not only in trade cooperation but also in investment making with Belarus. Particularly, the sides are discussing the possibility of construction of an enterprise on drug production in Baku. Moreover, the countries are discussing cooperation in such spheres as food industry, production of tobacco goods, carpets, wool, as well as dairy and meat production.

A store of Belarusian goods is expected to open in Ganja (the second biggest city of Azerbaijan) by late 2016, while similar sale points are already operational in the capital city Baku.

During the meeting with Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko, the sides discussed the ways of developing cooperation between two countries in the fields of trade, industry, economy, agriculture, tourism, and pharmaceutical industry.

Mustafayev noted that today Azerbaijan has 30 companies with Belarusian capital, and in turn Belarus has 60 companies with Azerbaijani capital.

The trade turnover between the enterprises of the Ministry of Industry of Belarus and Azerbaijani organizations amounted to $25 million in the first nine months of 2016, according to the Ministry of Industry of Belarus.

The Belarusian products worth $24.3 million were imported to Azerbaijan, while the export of Azerbaijani goods to Belarus stood at $700,000, the Ministry of Industry of Belarus reported. Every week more than 50 kinds of products are exported from Minsk to Baku.