Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 18
By Sara Israfilbayova - Trend:
There are broad possibilities of developing economic relations between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic in a wide range of fields, potential of which has not yet been satisfyingly fulfilled, Marta Novakova, the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, told Trend.
“The interest of Czech entrepreneurs in this country is still growing, as evidenced by the numerous business delegations accompanying me on my working trip to Baku in September 2018,” the minister said.
Novakova went on to say that Azerbaijan is the most important trade partner of the Czech Republic in the region of South Caucasus.
“For instance, Azerbaijan made up 88 percent of our trade turnover with the region in 2017. Moreover, there was a significant growth of our mutual trade in last two years and thus we could assume that this trend will also continue in 2019,” she underlined.
The Czech minister emphasized that Azerbaijan’s market is very promising for the Czech Republic, especially with regard to exports of Azerbaijani oil.
Speaking of the investments, Novakova noted that the government of Azerbaijan considers the Czech Republic one of the most important foreign investors, with the investments in the amount of $2 billion in the last 10 years.
“The Czech Republic was among the five most important export partners of Azerbaijan and the 9th largest foreign investor in 2017,” the minister said.
According to Novakova, Azerbaijan’s foreign direct investment in the Czech Republic is mainly realized in the real estate and hotel industry, adding that the government of the Czech Republic encourages Azerbaijani investors to move also to other sectors.
Further, she pointed out that Czech enterprises have substantive interest in continuation of cooperation with their Azerbaijani partners.
“During my working visit to Baku in September 2018, I held a lot of useful meetings. The Czech companies are mainly interested in such sectors as transport and infrastructure, energy, environmental technologies, health care, agriculture, innovative technologies and so on. Many companies working in these industries have been accompanying me on my journey. Their abundant participation is just the most prominent indicator of their interest in the Azerbaijani market,” the Czech minister stressed.
According to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, trade turnover with the Czech Republic in January-December 2018 amounted to $1.04 billion.
As compared to the indicator for the same period of the last year, the trade turnover between the countries increased by 36,5 percent, while the exports of Azerbaijani products increased by almost two times.
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