By Trend

Azerbaijan-France Business Forum was held at Baku Business Center July 11 with the support of the Ministry of Economy, the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) and MEDEF (Movement of the Enterprises of France), Trend reports.

Speaking about the development of the relations between Azerbaijan and France, Azerbaijani Minister of Economy Shahin Mustafayev said that trade is one of important fields of the Azerbaijani-French economic cooperation.

The minister added that Azerbaijan is the main trading partner of France in the South Caucasus. It is no coincidence that 62.4 percent of the total trade of France with the three countries of the South Caucasus account for Azerbaijan, he noted.

In the first five months of 2019, the trade turnover between the two countries increased by 53 percent compared to the same period last year, he added.

The minister noted that there is great potential for increasing the volume, diversifying the structure of trade and expanding the export of non-oil products to France. There are 45 companies with French capital operating in the fields of industry, services, communications, trade, banking, insurance and agriculture in Azerbaijan, he said. French companies are participating as contractors in projects worth $6.2 billion in Azerbaijan.

Mustafayev told about the reforms carried out in Azerbaijan, the success achieved, the country’s broad transport potential and regional projects that are being implemented.

He noted that international financial institutions also highly appreciate Azerbaijan. Thus, according to the World Bank’s Doing Business 2019 report, Azerbaijan, having improved its position by 32 points, took the 25th place among 190 countries and entered the top ten reformer countries in the world, he said.

The minister also stressed that, according to the EU Business Climate Report - Azerbaijan 2019, 74 percent of EU companies rated the macroeconomic situation in Azerbaijan as strong and satisfactory, and 90 percent rated the outlook for the macroeconomic situation as good and stable.

Some 75 percent of companies participating in the EU survey “Azerbaijan is a place for investment” responded positively to the question “Would you invest in Azerbaijan?”, praising the security, political and social stability in the country, the minister said.