Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend I.Khalilova / The Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Azerbaijan, Niyazi Safarov, stated on 22 May during the US-Azerbaijani agro-business-forum in Baku that the present agricultural co-operation between Azerbaijan and USA does not correspond with the economic potential of the two countries.
According to him, the trade turnover between the countries is low and the export of agricultural products from Azerbaijan amounted to $850,000 in 2006 with import being $3.5 mln. Safarov believes it is necessary to take firm steps to ensure significant progress is made in this regard.
According to Safarov, currently the American businessmen are very active in the oil sector of Azerbaijan. "Due to the Government goals to develop the non-oil sector, we are interested firstly in developing the co-operation with those countries where the agricultural sector has been developed," Safarov said.
He stressed that USA is one of the countries that is greatly developed in this sector. "From the technological point of view, USA possesses great opportunities," Safarov said. According to him, Azerbaijan should also think of bringing the quality of its commodities into conformity with world standards.
"Efforts by the Ministry only are not adequate. We are trying to combine the efforts of many State departments, including the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the State Agency for Standardization, Metrology and Patent. We are also trying to jointly raise the quality of products to export them abroad," he said.