Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Anvar Mammadov – Trend:
Azerbaijan and Poland have wide opportunities and areas for economic cooperation, Polish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Marek Tsalka said in an interview with Trend.
He said that both economic and political relations between Azerbaijan and Poland were very dynamic and close several years ago, but then there was a break, which can be explained by external and internal factors.
“There are many areas for Azerbaijan-Poland cooperation, namely, agriculture, transport, logistics, and shipbuilding,” Tsalka said. “We expect the Azerbaijani governmental delegation to visit Poland in June. The visit will be preparatory for the high level visit. The delegation will be able to review Poland’s potential.”
“We think that if the economic issues are discussed during the visit as it has been planned, not only Polish professional agricultural equipment producers, but also business partners could operate in Azerbaijan as part of more advanced projects of distribution, export, etc.,” he added.
“I would like to stress that more than 30 percent of vessels used by Azerbaijan are produced at Polish shipyards,” he said. “We launched a strategy of modernization of Poland’s maritime economy and we think that there are opportunities for cooperation with Azerbaijan."
The ambassador also stressed the potential for cooperation between Azerbaijan and Poland in transport and logistics.
"In transport and logistics, we are joining the transport corridors which are being created by major international players, and I think that we are succeeding,” he added. “I think that these corridors will bring profit to both Azerbaijan and Poland. Azerbaijan and Poland are at the crossroads of major routes. This is a great opportunity which should be used.”
“As for agriculture, this area is one of the priorities in the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Poland,” Tsalka added.
"The agriculture and food industry are one of the most dynamic sectors of the Polish economy,” Tsalka said. “More than 20 percent of the total Polish export account for food sector. There are around 16,000 food companies in the country and over 400,000 people are involved in food sector. Poland is also a leading food producer and exporter of food products to the EU.”
“For example, Poland strengthened its leading positions in the production of poultry meat in 2015 and ranked fourth in pork production in the EU,” he said. “The volume of exports of Polish agri-food products increased up to 24.2 billion euros in 2016, 81 percent of which was exported to the EU and only 5 percent to the CIS countries.”
“Poland mainly exports livestock, meat, cereals, tobacco, sugar and sweets and fish,” Tsalka said. “We see great potential in cooperation with Azerbaijan in the agrarian sphere. It concerns both export-import operations and mutual investments."
The ambassador also expressed the hope that Azerbaijani entrepreneurs will attend various exhibitions in Poland and invited Azerbaijani entrepreneurs for one of the world's largest agricultural exhibitions to be held in Poland in September.
According to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Poland amounted to $18.2 million in January-April 2017, $16.15 million of which accounted for import of Polish products.