Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 18
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Turkey and Azerbaijan have repeatedly proved fraternity and friendship to each other, the Turkish presidential administration told Trend Sept. 18.
"Baku and Ankara are linked not only with current economic and political relations, but also with cultural and historical ties," the administration said. “For Turkey, Azerbaijan was and is one of the most reliable partners."
According to the source, Ankara and Baku were able to use their potential not only for the benefit of the peoples of Turkey and Azerbaijan, but in general for the benefit of the region. All energy and economic projects which were implemented jointly testify to that.
"Such projects as the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) are very important projects for Turkey and Azerbaijan," the presidential administration said.
Today, Turkey and Azerbaijan are the main countries of trilateral formats of cooperation, the source said.
"The relations between Ankara and Baku are not limited to economic and energy projects,” the source said. “Today Azerbaijan and Turkey are among the leading countries in the region, which allows them to develop relations in all spheres. Ankara intends to expand relations with Baku in all directions, including defense industry."
Today, Azerbaijan and Turkey have a solid bilateral cooperation, but the two countries also have experience of working in a multilateral format.
Turkey participates in the majority of large-scale projects being implemented by Azerbaijan in the region. Among them are the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline projects.
Turkey and Azerbaijan demonstrated their leadership by signing an agreement on the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) in Istanbul in 2012. TANAP is one of the important components of the Southern Gas Corridor, which will allow supplying Azerbaijani gas to the world markets.
In summer, the first commercial gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field was supplied via the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor from the Sangachal terminal through the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline. The next stage was the commissioning of TANAP, through which gas is supplied to Turkey and further to Europe.
Another large-scale project of the century is the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which will ensure more active economic and trade cooperation between Ankara and Baku by supplying goods from Central Asia to Europe.
After the railway was commissioned in November 2017, the time of cargo transportation was almost halved, decreasing by 12-15 days. As is known, at this stage the biggest cargo turnover is carried out between Europe and China. Before the BTK railway, the transportation was carried out through sea routes and on average it took 25-30 days.
According to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Turkey reached $2.64 billion in 2017, of which $1.37 billion accounted for exports to Turkey. The trade turnover between the two countries increased by 14.8 percent in 2017.
In January-July 2018, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $1.74 billion (a 19.6 percent growth for the year).
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