Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 20 / Trend, A. Taghiyeva /
It is time for Azerbaijani and Turkish investors to jointly invest in third countries, Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ismail Alper Joshgun told Trend today.
"Turkey and Azerbaijan must increase their efforts in the field of joint investments," he said. "Azerbaijani and Turkish investors must start joint investment in third countries."
According to the ambassador, joint projects between Azerbaijan and Turkey have a significant impact on the global economy. One can mention the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project as an example. If one takes into account its connection to railway projects in Afghanistan, Central Asia and Europe through the "Marmaray" project, they too create a global impact.
According to the ambassador, economic relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan are at a fairly high level. As of 2012, bilateral trade turnover amounted to $4.2 billion.
"Despite a good level of economic relations between the two countries, I believe that these figures do not reflect the real potential for cooperation that exists in reality," he said. "The countries must make efforts to achieve the existing potential."
The energy and transport spheres are main areas of cooperation between the two countries, this includes projects such as the successful TANAP (Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline). It is planned to be implemented in the near future. SOCAR's investments in Turkey, in particular, in the construction of Star new refinery in Izmir, port construction in the complex Aliaga and others, the ambassador said.
Constructing a railway from Nakhchivan to the Turkish Igdir is being considered.
"Today, each of the countries is conducting operations on its own territory," he said. "After preliminary work is over, Turkey and Azerbaijan will work together to implement this project."
Joshgun said that besides the economic partnership, Azerbaijan and Turkey cooperate closely in the international arena, which is a result of the policy pursued by the presidents of the two countries.
"The third element of strengthening relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan is the growing interest of Turkish investors in the Azerbaijani economy, as well as the strengthening of the Azerbaijani private sector in the Turkish economy," he said. "Taking into account all of these aspects, one can say that trade turnover and mutual investment, and, as a consequence, economic partnership between Azerbaijan and Turkey will continue developing."
The ambassador also said that a meeting of the Strategic Partnership Council is expected to be held between Turkey and Azerbaijan this year. However, the date and venue of the Council are unknown.
According to the ambassador, the most interesting areas to Turkish investors in Azerbaijan are agriculture, construction, which is rapidly growing, and tourism. Despite the relatively small territory, Azerbaijan has unique features of nature and climate, which makes the country very attractive for tourists, Joshgun said.
He stressed that besides the above-mentioned spheres, the countries can also cooperate successfully in the field of telecommunications. Turkey has rich experience in this field. While cooperating with Azerbaijan, the country could carry out a number of projects in this field.
Azerbaijani investors may be interested in the Turkish tourism, electronic industry and energy.