Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 21 / Trend N. Ismayilova /
Belarusian Economy Minister Nikolai Snopkov and Azerbaijani Economic Development Minister Shahin Mustafayev signed an agreement on cooperation between the ministries on February 22, the Belarusian Embassy in Azerbaijan told Trend today.
The agreement will be signed during Snopkov's visit to Azerbaijan on Feb. 21-23.
"The agreement envisages the implementation of the cooperation between the ministries, the expansion of economic cooperation, the development of bilateral relations, the support for economic relations between the countries, the development of new areas of cooperation, the exchange of information and experience in such areas as investment and trade, entrepreneurship, joint research and innovation, business forums, the implementation of joint programs," the embassy said.
According to the information, the countries have already reached the level of trade turnover of $1 billion. The supplies of non-oil sector output from Azerbaijan last year demonstrated the growth rate in excess of 150 percent.
"Of course, we will make every effort to further increase the volume of trade turnover, because we have all the prerequisites for supplying energy resources and the production of non-oil sector. We assist Azerbaijani businessmen to increase the volume of mutually beneficial trade. It is worth stressing that the growth rate of the Azerbaijani supplies to Belarus exceeds the growth rate of supplying Belarusian goods to Azerbaijan," the embassy said.
The embassy said that besides increasing trade turnover, such spheres of cooperation development, as the realization of joint projects in various sectors of the economy, that is, the establishment of various industrial facilities, projects in agriculture, petrochemical and machine-building.
"We also focus on cooperation in mutual investments and invite Azerbaijani businessmen to actively invest in Belarus," the embassy said. "Belarusian companies are also interested in joint projects in Azerbaijan."
Azerbaijan and Belarus expand cooperation in education.
According to the information, it is planned to include the Belarusian universities in the curriculum of the Azerbaijani youth abroad. The countries establish contacts in public health, humanitarian, scientific, technical and ICT spheres.
"In this context, the agreement between the ministries of economy of the two countries as a whole will contribute to the further development of bilateral cooperation between countries," the embassy said.
Third Secretary of the Azerbaijani embassy in Minsk Ramin Salimhanov told BelaPAN today that Belarus and Azerbaijan also negotiate on the Azerbaijani oil supplies via swap scheme with Venezuela. Last year, about one million tons of Azerbaijani oil was supplied to Belarus via the swap contracts.
The representative of the embassy stressed that the quality of Azerbaijani oil is better than Venezuelan one. The economic effect from using Azerbaijani oil while producing oil products is by $30 more than using Venezuela's oil.