Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 18
Trend:
Baku and Astana aim to develop and expand cooperation in all areas, including tourism, Kazinform quoted the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan Rashad Mammadov as saying.
The diplomat noted that Azerbaijan is the most important trade and economic partner of Kazakhstan in the South Caucasus region.
"In 2017, the Kazakh-Azerbaijani intergovernmental commission adopted a road map for trade and economic cooperation for 2018-2020. Its implementation has already led to a significant increase in trade turnover between the two countries."
"In 1H2018, the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan increased by 56 percent compared to the same period last year. The trade turnover between the countries amounted to $142.1 million for the whole 2017 and to $142 million for the first seven months of 2018. For comparison, the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Georgia in the same period amounted to about $40 million, between Kazakhstan and Armenia to about $6 million," the ambassador said.
Mammadov noted that such results have been achieved thanks to the efforts of the relevant state agencies and the activity of entrepreneurs of both countries, as well as due to the fact that Baku and Astana aim to develop the non-oil sector of the economy.
"In particular, Azerbaijan has ordered 50 electric locomotives from the Electric Locomotives Assembly Factory (Electrovoz Kurastyru Zauyty), which was constructed in Astana with participation of the French company Alstom. Total amount of the order is 288 million euros. In turn, the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan plans to open trade houses in a number of cities of Kazakhstan, as Azerbaijani enterprises, especially the companies of the light industry produce high-quality and competitive products," the diplomat said.