BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 26. Azerbaijan's export strategy envisages several directions, Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov said in an interview with Azerbaijan Television (AZTV) channel, Trend reports.
"The first direction is geographic diversification, and the second is product diversification. We pay special attention to non-oil exports. Our economic policy is to deepen the process of industrialization in Azerbaijan," Jabbarov said.
According to him, industrial products play the main role in Azerbaijan's non-oil exports.
"In the first half of 2022, Azerbaijan more than doubled its oil and gas exports, trade turnover grew by 75 percent, and non-oil exports by 25 percent, while last year this figure was 45 percent. Non-oil exports could grow even faster, but in mid-March, it became known about problems with food security in the world, as well as with regional processes," the minister noted.
"Given the important role of Russia and Ukraine in the food market of Azerbaijan and assessing the impact of the known events on prices, a special regime has been applied to the export of food products from our country by decision of the government. All this has a negative impact on the growth of non-oil exports," Jabbarov explained.
Therefore, according to the minister, in the coming years, along with building up the industrial potential of Azerbaijan, steps are envisaged to create added value.
"Azerbaijan exports a number of products as intermediate products, but the potential for their localization is being studied and individual projects are being implemented. Various incentive projects will continue to be implemented to maintain the competitiveness of Azerbaijani exports," he concluded.