Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.26
By Seba Aghayeva- Trend:
The Bulgarian government intends to significantly strengthen cooperation with Azerbaijan in the economic sphere, the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Bulgaria Emil Kerimov told Trend Jan.23.
"Bulgaria shows interest towards Azerbaijani investments, and this issue will be included in the agenda of the next meeting of the intergovernmental commission on bilateral trade and economic cooperation, which will be held soon in Baku," he said.
He went on to add that it is also planned to hold a business forum for closer business contacts between business people of the two countries, where the investment opportunities of Azerbaijan will be presented.
The diplomat named agriculture and tourism among the priority areas for cooperation between the two countries.
Another promising area for cooperation between Azerbaijan and Bulgaria is energy. The development of cooperation in this area has been recently discussed by Azerbaijani Ambassador and Bulgarian Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petkova.
Earlier, during the visit of the Minister of Agriculture of Bulgaria in Azerbaijan in May 2014, an agreement on cooperation in the agricultural sector was signed, which identified specific areas of cooperation, said the ambassador.
"Bulgaria, which has a great potential and experience in this field, is an important country in terms of cooperation for us," Kerimov said. "Bulgaria has experience in training of specialists in this field. Agreement on cooperation between Ganja Agricultural Academy and Plovdiv University of Agriculture has already been signed, and training of specialists, exchange of training programs and experience is provided within the framework of this agreement. Bulgaria can also supply agriculture fertilizers and agricultural equipment to Azerbaijan."
Tourism is another promising area for cooperation between the two countries. The tourism sector is very developed in Bulgaria, there are summer, winter and spa tourism. The Ministry of Tourism of the country has a strong interest in increase of growth of the tourist flow. At present, the two countries have no direct flight due to its unprofitability. But if the number of tourists grows in the future, the need for it may emerge, the ambassador said.
At present, the level of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Bulgaria doesn't meet the existing potential (according to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan, in the first 9 months of 2014, it amounted to over $123 million), the ambassador said.
Edited by CN
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