BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 24. Lithuania can offer Azerbaijan a huge variety of food products, Ambassador of Lithuania to Azerbaijan Egidijus Navikas said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
“Lithuania has a well-developed food industry – this sector produces a big share of value-added in the economy. Therefore, Lithuania can offer Azerbaijan a huge variety of food products, for which the main export market is the EU – a market that requires the highest quality food products. Lithuanian companies can provide Halal certified food, organic food, etc.,” he said.
Navikas noted that trade figures between the two countries are not very big – around $40 million per year on average.
“However, the modest figures are just because the products that we trade are not very expensive. We mainly export food stuff – dairy, meat products, etc. – and you can find a wide variety of Lithuanian products in many Azerbaijani supermarkets, and Lithuanian producer of sea products, Vici, has an office here. Moreover, there is a chain of food stores called Pribaltika in Baku, which is not Lithuanian business, but the majority of their assortment are from Lithuania. As for exports from Azerbaijan, a big part of it falls on hazelnuts. Then come various machines, equipment, processors, and packaging stuff. However, despite modest figures, if we look at three South Caucasus countries, Azerbaijan is the country, which we have the biggest trade with. Azerbaijani businesses have some investments in the hotel and restaurant sphere, and real estate in Lithuania,” said the envoy.
He recalled that on 18 May, an Azerbaijani-Lithuanian business forum with the participation of the Azerbaijani and Lithuanian Presidents was held in Baku.
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