Cooperation in petrochemical industry with Belarus on agenda

By Azernews

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Belarus and Azerbaijan are working on proposals for cooperation in the petrochemical industry, Ambassador of Belarus to Azerbaijan Gennady Akhramovich said in an interview with the magazine “Vestnik Belneftekhima”, Belta reported.

He said that for the development of cooperation with Azerbaijan in the petrochemical industry, Belarusian producers need to maintain a constant dialogue and direct personal contacts with partners.

The ambassador noted that the Azerbaijani petrochemical market doesn’t experience shortage of proposals regarding most of the commodity items, and the competition in the market is quite high.

In each niche, brands of the world’s leading manufacturers are presented in various prices, and many exporters simultaneously offer preferential terms of supplies, he said.

“Under these conditions, Belarusian producers need to carry out the work aimed at increasing the quality characteristics of goods, maintain constant dialogue and direct personal contacts with Azerbaijani partners, be flexible in addressing the supply of products and services. In general, systematic work is required in this area. We are working out mutually beneficial proposals,” he said. 

The diplomat also said that petrochemical production in Belarus and Azerbaijan is one of the priority areas, so cooperation in this sphere is very promising. In his opinion, joint coordinated work of all interested structures is important in this direction.

He noted that in recent years, under the concluded contracts and agreements between the specialized companies of the two countries, the value of the oil products sold in foreign markets amounted to hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars.

“Therefore, we are actively working to further expand the Belarusian-Azerbaijani cooperation in this industry,” he said.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1993, but cooperation in the economic sphere has been developing dynamically over the past decade.

Belarus mainly exports to Azerbaijan the production of machinery, woodworking, tires, foodstuff, medicine, household appliances, dishes and other goods, meanwhile Azerbaijan exports to Belarus the products made of aluminum, products of petrochemistry, engineering and agriculture.

In January-September 2018, trade turnover between the two countries increased 3.3 times and amounted to $331.5 million compared to the same period of 2017. Azerbaijan’s trade turnover with Belarus amounted to $175.7 million in January-October 2018, and over $158 million of this value accounted for the import of Belarusian products, according to Azerbaijan’s State Customs Committee. Over the year, the trade turnover between the two countries increased by 54.8 percent.

Azerbaijan’s first ever Trade House was opened in Belarusian capital Minsk on May 26, 2017.