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Poland, Azerbaijan should establish direct flights, says ambassador

Transport Materials 24 November 2020 10:47 (UTC +04:00)
Poland, Azerbaijan should establish direct flights, says ambassador

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov.24

By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:

Generally speaking main directions of the economic cooperation between Poland and Azerbaijan remain unchanged, Polish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Rafał Poborski told Trend.

“They were expressed in the document Road Map towards the Strategic Partnership in the Economy signed in Warsaw in 2017 by our Presidents. Economic cooperation was also a topic discussed during the President of Poland Andrzej Duda’s visit in Azerbaijan at the end of May 2019. We see also an expediency of organising the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Economic Commission, however current pandemic situation forces us to review these plans. Nevertheless, when the international situation becomes more predictable we need to work much harder to increase our economic cooperation.

“I would like to underline that we have many instruments which should allow to achieve this goal for instance: Trade Offices in both countries, solid legal base, understanding for business conditions, human capital and the multimodal transport corridor between Poland, Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan. This framework of cooperation already proved to be effective as even in nowadays difficult circumstances our business people were able to increase the volume of bilateral trade. In first six months this year for example Polish export to Azerbaijan rose by 56,7 percent in comparison to the same period last year.

“But of course this is not enough. We need to work further and establish for example direct flights between our countries. This will not only enhance P2P contacts but also facilitate trade, business contacts and tourism that should play an important role in Polish-Azerbaijani relations,” said the ambassador.

Poborski noted that the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Poland would be much easier when some other important processes will come to positive end.

“Signing the new bilateral agreement between Azerbaijan and the EU as well as joining Azerbaijan to the WTO would be another impact which allow our economy to work closer each other. We are ready for cooperation with Azerbaijan in many spheres and we believe it can be important offer in diversifying the Azerbaijani economy. Therefore, collaboration with Poland could be facilitator of transformation of Azerbaijan economy and state institution. In this respect one should remember how successful we were in transforming our country from post-communist one into EU and NATO member state with continuous economic growth and one of the lowest unemployment rate in Europe. I dare to say that the are many lessons that could be drawn out of Polish experience and we are ready to share them with our partners,” he added.

In more concreate fields Poland sees the potential to further develop the cooperation in the agricultural sector, including in trade of food products, food processing, raw materials machinery, transportation, etc., according to the envoy.

“Polish manufacturers offer modern, quality equipment at competitive prices and have been delivering agricultural machinery to your country.

Exchanging the experiences under the twinning projects is an option too. Our ministers for agriculture met in Baku last year. Poland is a partner in three EU member states consortium in the project dedicated to strengthening the institutional capacity for implementing effective state support measures in agricultural sector and rural development of Azerbaijan. Under this twinning project we are sharing our knowledge on the evolution of the state support schemes within the EU, best practices and provide advice for Azerbaijani colleagues – bearing in mind all the differences and various conditions.

“There is still a potential in cooperation regarding public procurement. I believe we would all like to see more companies from Azerbaijan and Poland participating in transparent public tenders on both markets. In the current circumstances Poland see the importance of cooperation in medical and pharmaceutical sector as well. Your institutions, business associations and entities were already informed on the Anti-COVID Offer by Polish Business platform, that contains examples of products and solutions offered by Polish entrepreneurs and researchers which can help better respond to the Coronavirus crisis and its impact. Poland is also delivering equipment to be used in the battle against COVID to our Eastern Partnership partners, including Azerbaijan. The Polish and Azerbaijani companies develop effective contacts in transport and logistics sector, machine and chemical industries, but also in IT, shipbuilding, tourism and electronics.

“As you know Poland has also a very open market also for Azerbaijani workers. Now we are going to open our borders for doctors, nurses and other medical staff inviting them to work in Poland. It could be a great opportunity for them to upgrade their skills and the transfer their knowledge obtained in Poland back to Azerbaijan,” Poborski added.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn

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