Minister: Serbian businesses have high potential to restore liberated lands

By Azernews

By Sabina Mammadli

Serbian businesses have a strong potential to contribute to the restoration of Azerbaijan's liberated territories, Labour and Social Security Minister Sahil Babayev has said.

He made the remarks at an event to mark the Republic of Serbia's Statehood Day.

"Active reconstruction work is underway in the liberated lands. I believe Serbian companies have high potential to take part in these projects as well. This issue has been discussed during the business forum whereby Serbian companies showed great interest in these drafts," he said.

Babayev outlined the successful development of Serbia-Azerbaijan relations, noting that they are based on mutual respect for territorial integrity, sovereignty, and inviolability of borders.

The minister stated that the agreements reached and documents signed during the two countries' high-level visits formed a strong legal basis for the two countries' comprehensive development of cooperation, and a total of 34 documents were signed. He emphasized the importance of the intergovernmental commission and its regular meetings in the development of Azerbaijani-Serbian cooperation.

Babayev also stated that the elimination of visa requirements between Azerbaijan and Serbia will help strengthen bilateral trade relations. He expressed confidence that Serbian business circles would be interested in taking part in projects in the Alat Free Economic Zone, which was established last year.

He stressed that the two countries support each other in international organizations.

“One of the notable examples is the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement in the capital of Serbia, Belgrade, which once again demonstrated Serbia's commitment to the principles of the Non-Aligned Movement. Mutual visits are intensive," Babayev added.

During the same event, Serbian ambassador to Azerbaijan Dragan Vladisavljevic stated that bilateral relations have reached the level of strategic partnership.

He described Azerbaijan as one of Serbia's closest friends.

"Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1997. During this time, relations between Azerbaijan and Serbia achieved the level of strategic partnership," he said.

The ambassador said that the two countries' total coordination on issues of mutual interest has been ensured, as evidenced by a significant increase in trade between Azerbaijan and Serbia in 2021.

“I believe friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Serbia will become more intense in the future," the ambassador added.

At the event, Babayev congratulated the ambassador and friendly Serbian people on Statehood Day on behalf of the Azerbaijani government.

Azerbaijan and Serbia collaborate in a variety of economic sectors. The Azerbaijan-Serbia Declaration on Strategic Partnership, signed in 2013, and the Joint Action Plan on Strategic Partnership, signed in 2018, laid the groundwork for the development of relations.

Last year, Azerbaijan and Serbia have signed an agreement on the mutual abolition of visa requirements for persons holding general civil passports. The agreement between Azerbaijan and Serbia on the mutual abolition of visa requirements for holders of general civil passports was signed during a meeting between the two countries' foreign ministers, Jeyhun Bayramov and Nikola Selakovic, on the sidelines of the high-level meeting commemorating the Non-Aligned Movement's 60th anniversary in Belgrade on October 11, 2021.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Serbia amounted to $9.2 million in 2021. In addition, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $758,650 in January 2022.