BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 18
Trend:
Azerbaijani companies should actively participate in various investment projects in Ukraine, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at Azerbaijan-Ukraine business forum Dec. 17, Trend reports.
Today, over 90 companies from Ukraine and more than 100 companies from Azerbaijan are represented at the Azerbaijani-Ukrainian business forum, the Azerbaijani president noted.
“These figures are quite indicative,” Ilham Aliyev said. “They are evidence of the great interest in such a business forum. In truth, Ukrainian-Azerbaijani business forums have not been held for a long time. I must also note that the intergovernmental commission has not been functioning for a long time. Today, during President Zelensky’s visit, these issues were discussed in great detail. Trade and economic issues occupied a special place among the issues discussed.”
“On the whole, I believe that the President’s visit is very successful,” the Azerbaijani president added. “Today we held a very wide exchange of views and signed several important documents. The main thing is that the mutual trust that has arisen between us will, I am sure, play an important role in the development of Ukrainian-Azerbaijani relations.”
“With regard to economic relations, there is tremendous untapped potential,” Ilham Aliyev said. “Today we exchanged views on this and saw that despite the increase in trade this year, we can’t be pleased with absolute figures. In particular, Azerbaijan’s exports to Ukraine are lop-sided, i.e. they are formed on the basis of energy resources. We would very much like to diversify our exports to Ukraine, and several steps have been taken for this purpose, including the opening of the Trade House of Azerbaijan in Kyiv last year. I believe that there should be many such trading houses, and the Trade Center of Ukraine has opened in Baku today. This is a wonderful event.”
“Thus, very important steps will be taken to promote mutual trade,” the Azerbaijani president noted. “At the same time, I believe that we can enter a new stage in investment issues. Over the past 15 years, investments in the amount of $270 billion have been made in Azerbaijan. Half of this is foreign investment. This suggests that our country has a great investment environment. The interests of foreign investors and the funds invested here are protected by the state.”
“The investment climate in Ukraine is also improving,” Ilham Aliyev added. “We are seeing this, and there are major plans related to large investments and privatization. Mr. President and I talked about this. I believe that Azerbaijani companies should actively participate in various investment projects. We agreed that a meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission will be held in Ukraine at the beginning of next year. We must seriously prepare for the meeting of this commission. Representatives of both government agencies and the private sector should take part in the meeting. There should be concrete results of the work of this commission, after which we should be informed about this.”
“Business circles are very sensitive,” the Azerbaijani president said. “Usually they are very scrupulous and cautious in investing matter, wait for appropriate signals from government agencies. I believe that our joint participation in this business forum with President Zelensky is an excellent signal to business circles. I believe that they should understand this correctly and draw the right conclusions. And the result should be that our economic ties become closer. There are very wide opportunities for cooperation. I mentioned investment. At the same time, in Azerbaijan and Ukraine there are great opportunities in the tourism sector. Our countries have a very rich and picturesque nature, developed infrastructure, so it is necessary to pay attention to this area.”
“Cooperation in agriculture can be successfully continued,” Ilham Aliyev noted. “Of course, the level of today's cooperation cannot satisfy us. We are open to cooperation in all areas, and I believe that this visit will play a very important role in resolving these issues.”