Trade turnover with China exceeded $1.3 billion

By Azernews

By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan is China’s main trading partner in the South Caucasus, Azerbaijani Economy Minister, Co-Chairman of the Azerbaijani-Chinese Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation Shahin Mustafayev said.

He met with a delegation led by a member of the Foreign Policy Advisory Group of the Foreign Ministry of China, Xiaopei Zhou.

It was noted that last year, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and China exceeded $1.3 billion, making 43 percent of China’s total trade turnover with the countries of the South Caucasus.

The minister also stressed that there is great potential for expanding trade relations and Azerbaijan is taking consistent measures to realize this potential, mentioning operation of Azerbaijan's trade representative, opening of wine and trade houses of Azerbaijan in China as well as export missions organized to China.

He added that the import support policy implemented by the Chinese side creates favorable conditions for the presentation of high-quality Azerbaijani products on the Chinese market.

“About 120 companies with Chinese capital are registered in Azerbaijan. Over the past period, Azerbaijan invested $ 1.7 billion in China, and Chinese investments to Azerbaijan exceeded $ 800 million. Chinese companies also took part in projects implemented in our country at the expense of public funds worth $600 million,” he said.

Stressing the importance of cooperation in the financial sector, the Minister of Economy noted that Azerbaijan became a member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2016.

He said that the bank had allocated a loan of $ 600 million for the implementation of the TANAP project, and stressed the role of China in the implementation of the TANAP project.

Mustafayev emphasized that Azerbaijan is one of the first countries that supported the project “One Belt, One Road” and is one of the active participants in its implementation. The minister stressed that the use of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) within the framework of One Belt One Road creates excellent opportunities for cooperation in the investment, trade, transit and other spheres.

Touching upon the cooperation in the tourism sector, Minister recalled the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on the simplification of group trips of Chinese tourists to Azerbaijan. Noting increasing interest of Chinese tourists to Azerbaijan, he said that Chinese tourists use the ASAN Viza system and about 16,000 Chinese citizens visited Azerbaijan last year.

In turn, Xiaopei Zhou informed about the consultative group and underlined that, taking into account the important position of Azerbaijan in the region, China chose Azerbaijan as the main trading partner in the South Caucasus.

He also mentioned China’s interest in developing relations with Azerbaijan in various sectors of the economy.

Recently, the seventh meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and China was held in Beijing. The meeting ended with the signing of the protocol that envisages the expansion of cooperation in industrial, agricultural, transit, logistics, trade, investment, ICT, financial, tourism, humanitarian and other areas.

At present, Azerbaijan's trade representative operates in China, Azerbaijan's wine houses in Urumqi and Shanghai, Azerbaijan’s Trade House in Liuzhou. Azerbaijani export missions to China are also being organized.

This year, the Ministry of Economy is planning to organize three more export missions to China.

It should be noted that Ministry of Economy and the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) organized the first export mission of this year to Beijing, China on 25 February-1 March. The mission included 16 Azerbaijani companies operating in the field of food, wine and other alcoholic drinks.

Azerbaijan and China recently signed a protocol on cultural cooperation for 2019–2023 and the Memorandum of Understanding on simplifying group visits of Chinese tourists to Azerbaijan.