Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend A.Badalova / The Minister of Economic Development of Azerbaijan, Heydar Babayev, said on 27 August during an Azerbaijani-Korean business-forum in Baku that the development of the non-oil sector is currently a priority for Azerbaijan.
The minister said that South Korean companies differ from other companies in that they pay significant attention to the non-oil sector.
According to Babayev, cooperation between Azerbaijan and Korea will lead to new projects. "Korean companies are very active in Azerbaijan," the minister said.
"It ( Korea and Azerbaijan) needs to move to a new stage of cooperation. Memorandums of Understanding should transform into agreements. We have currently received conditions of agreement from a Korean company and will give a response after assessing these conditions," Babayev said.
The memorandums mainly regard the energy sector, as well as shipbuilding in the economic zone and relocation of Baku Port.
In addition, the minister said that in the near future Korea will allocate nearly $2bln to Azerbaijan and of that half will be directed towards the energy sector, but will not be linked directly to oil.