Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.19
By Seba Aghayeva - Trend:
Bulgaria is interested in Azerbaijani investments, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Bulgaria Emil Karimov told Trend.
"The Bulgarian government is interested in Azerbaijani investments," he said. "In the future, it is planned to hold a business forum aimed at establishing closer business contacts between business people of the two countries, where investment opportunities of the country will also be presented."
The diplomat mentioned agriculture and tourism among the priority areas for cooperation.
During the visit of the Minister of Agriculture of Bulgaria in Azerbaijan in May 2014, an agreement on cooperation in the agricultural sector was signed, which identified specific areas of cooperation.
"Bulgaria, which has a great potential and experience in this field, is an important country in terms of cooperation for us," he said. "Bulgaria has experience in training of specialists in this field. Agreement on cooperation between Ganja Agricultural Academy and Plovdiv University of Agriculture has already been signed, and training of specialists, exchange of training programs and experience is provided within the framework of this agreement. Bulgaria can also supply agriculture fertilizers and agricultural equipment to Azerbaijan."
Tourism is another promising area for cooperation between the two countries. The tourism sector is very developed in Bulgaria, there are summer, winter and spa tourism. The Ministry of Tourism of the country has a strong interest in increase of growth of the tourist flow. At present, the two countries have no direct flight due to its unprofitability. But if the number of tourists grow in the future, the need for it may emerge, the ambassador said.
At present, the level of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Bulgaria doesn't meet the existing potential (according to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan, in the first 9 months of 2014, it amounted to over $123 million), the ambassador said.
The governments of both countries now work on the development of trade and economic relations, he said.
In general, the diplomat described the 2014 year as a quite productive one in terms of cooperation between the two countries.
"For the year, many mutual official and working visits of officials of the two countries were held, including the visits of the president, prime minister and vice president, ministers of economy, agriculture, education of Bulgaria in Azerbaijan," said Kerimov. "From the Azerbaijani side, the minister of energy and industry, the head of SOCAR, deputy minister of foreign affairs, youth and sports, and others visited Bulgaria in 2014. The first ministerial consultations were held. Specific issues of cooperation in the energy sector, mutually beneficial proposals were discussed during the visits."
Cooperation between the two countries is governed by intergovernmental agreements, which create a strong legal basis, only in 2014, 10 documents in such areas as the environment, banking, education, law, energy were signed.
Edited by CN
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