Azerbaijan, Estonia intend to reach new level of cooperation

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

The strengthening of economic relations and improving the interaction between businessmen of the two countries were the key topics of the third meeting of the Azerbaijan-Estonia Intergovernmental Commission in Baku on April 7. 

The meeting chaired by Estonia’s Minister of Public Administration Mihhail Korb and Azerbaijan’s Minister of Transport, Communication and High Technologies Ramin Guluzade ended with the signing of a protocol on trade and economic cooperation.

Korb, following the signing ceremony, said that the protocol was prepared with participation of specialists from various ministries of the two states, and envisages many different areas of cooperation – from energy, tourism and trade to culture, Trend reported.

Apparently, certain steps have been outlined in all areas that will help to bring the relationship between the two states to a new level of cooperation, noted the Estonian minister.

“We sign such protocols once in two years and the fulfillment of the tasks envisaged in them falls on both sides,” he added.

Korb further said that officials of Estonian and Azerbaijani railway administrations, as well as an Estonian port signed a protocol on cooperation in creation of a new South-North logistics corridor.

The corridor will allow transporting cargo between Azerbaijan and Estonia, as well as to the Scandinavian countries, according to the minister.

He also touched upon the necessity of expanding the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Estonia, adding that the figure may be increased, first of all, by increasing mutual supplies of agriculture products.

“We can offer products that are not manufactured in Azerbaijan, and Estonia will, in turn, be able to purchase the needed agriculture products,” Korb said. “Of course, we talked [during the meeting of the intergovernmental commission] about the spheres of woodworking, metalworking and mechanical engineering, which are more developed in Estonia.”

Korb mentioned that Estonia also has several projects in the energy sector, namely the projects on gas and oil products. He added that these projects will be discussed by members of the Estonian business delegation and their Azerbaijani partners on April 7.

During the Baku visit, the Estonian delegation led by Korb was received by President Ilham Aliyev, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Prime Minister Artur Rasizade.  

At the Azerbaijan-Estonia Business Forum held on the same day Rufat Mammadov, Head of the Azerbaijan Export and Investments Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) said that Azerbaijan is interested in investment cooperation with Estonia.

"We are very interested in the presence of Azerbaijani goods in the Estonian market,” Mammadov said. “We are also very interested in investment cooperation with Estonia. We invite Estonian companies to take advantage of this business forum and expand ties with Azerbaijani enterprises.”

AZPROMO Head said that currently the volume of mutual investments is at a very low level.

“To date, the volume of Azerbaijani investments in Estonia is only about $300,000-400,000. In turn, Estonia has invested about $1 million in the economy of Azerbaijan. This is a very low rate,” he said.

He also noted that the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Estonia does not reflect the existing potential of bilateral relations.

"Last year, the volume of trade between our countries amounted to just over $3 million. This is an unsatisfactory indicator, as there is a great potential between our countries to expand trade ties," Mammadov said.

Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Estonia amounted to $541,130 in January-February 2017, according to Azerbaijan’s State Customs Committee. The figure has increased by 2.2 times as compared to the same period of 2016.

Meanwhile, a source in the telecommunications market of Azerbaijan told Trend that "Azerkosmos" is preparing to provide remote sensing services to the state structures of Estonia.

The source said that the Estonian company Reach-U will act as an intermediary in the provision of the services in the Estonian market, negotiations with which are currently being conducted.

The contract with Reach-U will be signed in the near future, which will allow it to sell images received from the Azersky satellite to the Estonian Defense Ministry, Agriculture Ministry and the Executive Power of Tallinn.

Earlier, “Azercosmos” and Reach-U signed a contact which envisaged transfer of satellite images received from Azersky to the University of Tartu.

Also, the postal operator of Azerbaijan - Azerpoct sent a contact project to the Estonian postal administration for the launch of electronic money transfers through the STEFI system (Secured Transfer of Electronic Financial Information).

The document is expected to be signed in the near future, said the source.

As of today, Azerpoct offers money transfer services through this system to Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Kazakhstan.