Azerbaijan’s trade with Turkic Council states near $2B [PHOTO]

Azerbaijan’s trade turnover with the countries of the Turkic Council amounted to $1.9 billion in January-October 2016, Azerbaijan’s Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev said.

He made the remarks in Baku during the 6th meeting of economy ministers of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States on December 21.

“Of this amount, $1 billion accounted for imports, and $900,000 accounted for exports from Azerbaijan,” said Mustafayev. “The share of the Turkic Council countries in the total trade turnover of Azerbaijan amounted to 14 percent. The share of these countries accounted for 13 percent in the exports from Azerbaijan and 15 percent in the imports.”

The minister further said that Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan should develop and expand mutual investments.

Mustafayev said that Azerbaijan has well-developed mutual investments with Turkey and Kazakhstan, so these ties should be developed with Kyrgyzstan as well.

“Azerbaijan has invested $8 billion in the Turkish economy, $6.7 billion of which accounted for such projects as the Petkim Petrochemical Complex, the Star Oil Refinery and the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), and the remaining $1.3 billion were allocated to other spheres,” the minister said. “I would like to note that we plan to bring the total volume of Azerbaijani investments in Turkey to $18-20 billion by 2020.”

In turn, Turkey invested $10 billion in Azerbaijan’s economy, $2.6 billion of which was invested in Azerbaijan’s non-oil sector, Mustafayev said.

“Turkey ranks first in terms of investments’ volume in Azerbaijan’s non-oil economy,” the minister said.

During the meeting, a report of the working group will be presented, as well as the opportunities to expand economic cooperation among Turkic speaking states will be discussed.

The Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (Turkic Council) was established in 2009 as an international intergovernmental organization, with the overarching aim of promoting comprehensive cooperation among Turkic Speaking States.

 Its four founding member States are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey.