Azerbaijan, France mull joint investment fund

The visit of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Azerbaijan, scheduled for October, will be the impetus for development of relations between the two countries, Azerbaijani Finance Minister Samir Sharifov told the 6th meeting of the Azerbaijani-French intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation in Paris on Friday.

Sarkozy's visit will take place at the invitation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. "Due to the joint efforts, the Azerbaijani-French relations comprehensively expanded and deepened, and rose to the level of strategic partnership", Sharifov, the co-chair of the intergovernmental commission said. "Mutual visits played an important role in deepening political and economic ties between the countries", he added.

France's trade minister, Pierre Lellouche, is the commission's co-chairman from the French side. It was decided at the meeting to strengthen and enhance cooperation of TOTAL and GDF SUEZ with SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan). The meeting has also emphasized the leading role of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline in ensuring energy security of the EU, Azerbaijani Finance Ministry reported Saturday.

It was suggested during the discussions to ensure the participation of Azerbaijani and French companies in the conferences, seminars, business forums, trade fairs and exhibitions related to exports, trade and investment.

The meeting considered possible setting up of a joint investment fund between Azerbaijan Investment Company and French financial institutions in order to develop non-oil sector and implement investment projects in this area was.

Azerbaijan has invited French companies to actively participate in tenders held jointly with international financial organizations in the reconstruction of water supply and sanitation.

The commission backed the cooperation between the AZAL JSC (Azerbaijan Airlines) and Airbus company aimed at future purchases of short-, medium-and long-haul aircraft.

The meeting considered the Azerbaijan's inclusion in the high level group of countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), who have access to export credits with lower interest rates. Taking into account the improvement of Azerbaijan's international credit ratings in the last five years, French side pledged to assist in this issue.

The meeting also discussed the long-term development of trade relations between the two countries, the developing and expanding cooperation in infrastructure projects, civil aviation and air transport, rail, motor and urban transport, space and telecommunications technologies, finances, reducing the risk of emergencies and other areas.

The sides also exchanged views on current cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European institutions and the country's cooperation with France in other areas that require to be improved for WTO accession.

The intergovernmental commission meeting resulted in signing a protocol. An Azerbaijani-French business forum was also held Friday in Paris.


/Trend/