Azernews.Az

By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

Azerbaijan and Russia are two strategic partners whose relations are constantly developing. Creation of joint industrial enterprises now constitutes the main part on the cooperation agenda.

This is a win-win direction for both states, since Russian comapnies actively increase their export potential and competence in Azerbaijan, while the latter develops its undustrial sector to meet the local demand.

The trade with Russia amounted to $2.55 billion in 2018, of which $665.74 fall for the export of Azerbaijani products.

Russia hopes that the directions, which are fixed in the field of agricultural engineering, will be developed taking into account the availability of a good market for agricultural production and the support of Azerbaijan in the purchases of agricultural equipment, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov told Trend.

The minister noted that Russia sees serious prospects for cooperation in this direction.

"The fact that in February 2019 we laid the foundation for cooperation in Azerbaijan with AzerMash on the assembly and production of light commercial vehicles jointly with the Russian partner GAZ group also shows a bilateral interest in the partnership cooperation of our countries, and in particular in the creation of new conscientious manufacturing enterprises. Of course, all areas of bilateral cooperation that were discussed today should be secured by the relevant agreements, after which it would be possible to talk about the time frame for the joint production. As for the timing of the implementation of joint projects in the field of agricultural machinery, and the industrial sector, everything will depend on how effectively bilateral economic cooperation will develop," the Russian minister said.

Recently, Baku hosted a meeting of Azerbaijani and Russian entrepreneurs. Azerbaijan and Russia have signed a number of agreements in Baku on economic cooperation within the framework of the business forum.

In particular, Sumgait Technology Park LLC signed an agreement on cooperation and organization of relations with Rostselmash KZ LLC and a memorandum of cooperation with Transmashholding LLC. This is while AzOkso LLC signed a memorandum of intent to jointly implement fencing systems with ServiceInvest LLC.

Azerbaijan is one of the main economic partners of Russia among the CIS countries and Russia remains one of Azerbaijan’s main foreign trade partners. Interregional cooperation plays an important role in the development of Russian-Azerbaijani trade and economic relations and the increase in trade turnover. Russia ranks first in terms of import of non-oil products from Azerbaijan.

The value of investments by Russian companies in Azerbaijan amounted to $4.4 billion, and the value of Azerbaijani investments in Russia stood at $1.2 billion. About 760 companies with Russian capital operate in Azerbaijan.

According to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia reached $170 million in January 2019, which is four percent more than in January 2018.

Russia is a strategic partner of Azerbaijan. The legal framework between the countries includes over 180 documents, including about 50 in the economic sphere.