Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend A Badalova / Sergey Narishkin, the first Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, commented on the necessity of defining the date of the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation with Azerbaijan. He made this statement in a meeting with Yagub Eyyubov, the Azerbaijani First Deputy Prime Minister, in Baku on 31 August.
Naryshkin said that Russia values the fraternal and close relations with Azerbaijan and attentively observes the development of the economic situation in the country.
Eyyubov said that over the past few years the relations between the countries have developed in different directions. The agreements to be achieved during Narishkihn's first working visit to Azerbaijan will give incentives for the expansion of bilateral cooperation.
The major problem in the bilateral trade is the necessity of fulfilling the deficit in the amount of $450-$500mln, appeared due to the cut in the natural gas deliveries from Russia since 1 January 2007, and goods with high value added tax. So far, 30% of the goods turnover falls on machinery-technology equipment.
At present, Azerbaijan leads the CIS countries in the amount of per capita investments, whereas Russia leads for the amount and pace of attraction of investments.
Earlier, the sides had exchanged mutual proposals on investments in the economies of both countries. No decision has been adopted on any of these proposals.