BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.10
By Fidan Babayeva – Trend:
Expenses of Azerbaijan for importing goods from EU countries in 2020 totaled over $2.5 billion against $2.4 billion a year earlier, thus having grown by 4.1 percent, Trend reports citing the statistical bulletin of the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee (SCC).
According to the bulletin, the EU’s share in the overall import of Azerbaijan for the reporting year rose from 17.79 percent (recorded in 2019) to 23.59 percent.
At the same time, the value of Azerbaijan’s exports to the EU dropped from almost $10.5 billion to $6.8 billion year on year. Thus, the share of the EU in the total export of Azerbaijan decreased from 53.47 percent to 49.49 percent.
The volume of foreign trade operations between Azerbaijan and EU countries in 2020 amounted to $9.3 billion, which is 27.9 percent less compared to 2019.
Accordingly, the balance of the foreign trade turnover of Azerbaijan with the EU countries for the reporting year remained positive, having equaled $4.3 billion.
Azerbaijan's total foreign trade turnover in 2020 made up over $24.4 billion, while a year earlier this indicator was 26.5 percent more.
During the reporting year, Azerbaijan had exported products to 108 and imported from 175 countries.
The country's foreign trade turnover from January through December 2020 amounted to $21.8 billion (given the statistical value of crude oil and natural gas exported by customs authorities, but customs clearance of which was not fully completed), including $12.17 billion in exports and $9.6 billion in imports. As a result, the trade surplus reached almost $2.5 billion, added the SCC's bulletin.
Azerbaijan is economically an important partner for the EU. The EU countries are the largest importers of Azerbaijani products, about 50 percent of Azerbaijan's exports go to the EU.
Head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan Malena Mard has repeatedly said that Azerbaijan is the most reliable partner of the EU in the South Caucasus. One of the reasons for this is that Azerbaijan offers its assistance in the development of the project Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), migration, and trade.
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