Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Creation of favorable conditions for residents in industrial parks of Azerbaijan will pave the way for a wider cooperation between the country and Russia in economic fields.

The issue was discussed during a meeting of Economy and Industry Minister Shahin Mustafayev with Russian Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Georgy Kalamanov in Baku, the Ministry said.

Mustafayev noted that bilateral economic relations between Azerbaijan and Russia develop as successfully as in other areas of cooperation.

"There is great capacity for expansion of economic cooperation between our countries, and the effective use of this capacity will give impetus to further development of our relations," he said.

The sides also discussed the possibility of bilateral cooperation in the field of pharmaceuticals and oil engineering, as well as exchanged views on the issue of industrial parks.

At present, there are more than 570 companies and organizations with Russian capital registered in Azerbaijan. Russia ranks fourth in the list of foreign trade partners of Azerbaijan.

The volume of trade with Russia amounted to $1.58 billion in January-October 2014, which is 5.95 percent of the total trade volume of Azerbaijan.

Moreover, among importing countries, Russia with a share of 14.1 percent of total imports takes the first place in Azerbaijan.

Several industrial areas are created in Baku, Sumgayit, Ganja and Mingachevir, the largest cities of the country.

Balakhani Eco-Industrial Park, designed for recycling plastic waste, tires, electrical appliances, batteries, non-ferrous metals, cables and other domestic waste, is being created in Baku.

Meanwhile, the works in the Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park, as well as the works on creation of a metallurgical industrial area oriented for aluminium production in Ganja, are being carried out successfully. At the same time, an industrial area will be created in the sphere of light industry in Mingachevir.

The Economy Ministry also plans to increase the number of industrial zones in all regions of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree for the establishment of industrial areas and organization of their activities on October 8.

The decree presupposes that the industrial areas are the territory with the necessary infrastructure for business activities, used by small and medium entrepreneurs to produce products and services.