Yekaterinburg, Russia, Sept. 30
By Vagif Sharifov - Trend:
The actual delivery of goods between Azerbaijan and Russia rose by more than 50 percent in the first half of 2015, despite a slight drop in turnover, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Russia Alexander Tsybulsky said.
He made the remarks Sept.30 at the sixth Russian-Azerbaijani interregional forum, held in Yekaterinburg.
"Over the past five years the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia increased by more than two times," he said. "In January-June 2015, the trade turnover between our countries totaled $1.7 billion and showed a slight fall - just over 20 percent."
"At the same time it should be noted that if the actual volume of supplies of goods and exchange of goods is considered, no drop is observed here, on the contrary, we are witnessing the growth of actual deliveries of goods by more than 50 percent," he said.
Tsybulsky went on to add that the trade turnover between Russia and Azerbaijan at the end of 2014 exceeded $4 billion and reached its historical maximum.
"Dynamics of bilateral trade, despite the global and objective difficulties of the last year, was one of the best among all the CIS countries," said the deputy minister.
He said that Russia and Azerbaijan established an active and productive dialogue on many important issues of foreign economic and political agenda.
"If the interregional cooperation is considered, 75 regions of Russia maintain trade and economic relations with Azerbaijan on a permanent basis today," he said.
"Daghestan, Tatarstan, Stavropol Krai, Astrakhan, Sverdlovsk Oblast and Chelyabinsk Oblast, Moscow and St. Petersburg cities can be called the largest trade partners of Azerbaijan among the Russian regions."
Tsybulsky said that the dynamically developing trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan is also becoming a solid basis for the development of civilized neighborly relations between the two countries.
"Bilateral agreements on trade-economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation were signed with a number of Russian regions at the intergovernmental level," he said. "It is planned to sign similar documents with the Leningrad Oblast, Tambov Oblast, Ulyanovsk Oblast and the Republic of Bashkortostan."
"Two regions of Russia, Dagestan and Tatarstan, have offices in Azerbaijan," the deputy minister said. "All this underscores the fact that interregional ties between our countries are very tight."