Baku, Azerbaijan, May 27
By Jamila Aliyeva - Trend:
France intends to propose Azerbaijan expand cooperation in the sphere of agriculture, French ambassador to Azerbaijan Pascal Monnier told reporters May 27.
"France has a lot to offer Azerbaijan on cooperation in the field of agriculture," said the ambassador. "For instance, there is little French milk, wine here [in Azerbaijan], but we work on expanding this cooperation."
French government is still unpleasant with the development level of Azerbaijani-French relations, despite the fact that much work was done in this regard and French president has twice visited Azerbaijan in a year, said the diplomat.
"We could improve the relations in the spheres of education and culture as well," said Monnier. "In particular, work is underway to create a France-Azerbaijan university."
Monnier added that French government also supports the project to create sister cities with Azerbaijan.
A number of similar agreements have already been signed in this regard, he said.
France will host National Pavilion event in June and Azerbaijan will also be represented there, he said, adding that Azerbaijan's Minister of Economy and Industry Shahin Mustafayev has been invited to this event.
The diplomat also touched upon the relations between Azerbaijan and France in the sphere of tourism. He said that the number of visas issued by France for Azerbaijani citizens has increased by 2.5 times since 2012.
Monnier said that Atout France works on increasing the number of Azerbaijani tourists in France.
The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and France stood at $1.681 billion as of 2014 and $157.4 million of this amount accounted for the import to Azerbaijan and $1.52 billion accounted for the export to France, according to Azerbaijani State Customs Committee.
Edited by CN