BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 7
By Fidan Babayeva - Trend:
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) provide 90 percent of the trade turnover between Russia and Azerbaijan, Orkhan Mammadov, Chairman of the Board of the Small and Medium Business Development Agency (SME) of Azerbaijan, said, Trend reports citing Russian media.
Mammadov made the remark on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg-2021.
"Russia is the main trade partner of Azerbaijan, and we have the largest trade turnover. We work closely with our colleagues from the ‘Opora Russia’ organization and the SME Corporation, and we have joint projects. In 2019, we organized a business forum in Makhachkala (Dagestan Republic of Russia), now we plan to hold it in Azerbaijan. I can say with confidence that the cooperation of SMEs of the two countries is at a high level," Mammadov said.
According to the agency chairman, the topic of digitalization in the post-view period is especially relevant.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, companies, including SMEs, were forced to go online. And the Azerbaijani government helped them in this transition. We conducted free trainings, provided financial support,” the expert stressed.
“Financial support measures are standard, as in other countries. These were loans with a preferential rate, tax holidays, and grants for businesses. We also focused on supporting startups during the pandemic,'' he said.
As Mammadov said, the loss of business because of the pandemic consequences was very large.
“Azerbaijan is, first of all, an oil country, but trade with our closest neighbors, especially with Russia, is of no small importance to us. Due to lockdowns, production has decreased significantly, but now the trade is recovering, and I think we will slowly return to the indicators of 2019,'' Mammadov said.