Azerbaijan's trade with Mexico increases
By Leman Mammadova
Despite the long distance between Azerbaijan and Mexico, relations between the two countries are developing rapidly in many spheres.
The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Mexico amounted to $26.2 million by the end of 2018, Mexican Ambassador to Azerbaijan Rodrigo Labardini said, Report informs.
“This year we reached a record. In 2018, our trade amounted to $26.2 million. Compared to 2017, the growth has been 35.74 percent,” he noted.
Ambassador stressed that about 40 percent of the trade accounted for oil products.
He also touched upon the tourist flow between the countries. In his words, the number of tourists visiting Mexico from Azerbaijan has increased.
“In 2018, 506 Azerbaijani tourists visited Mexico, and 622 Mexican tourists came to Azerbaijan,” Labardini noted.
The diplomat pointed out that these figures increased by 19.06 and 8.93 percent, respectively, in 2018 compared to 2017.
The ambassador added that Azerbaijani tourists prefer to visit such Mexican cities as Riviera, Maya and the capital city Mexico. He expressed the hope that the flow of tourists will further increase as a result of the opening of the Istanbul-Cancun (Mexico) flight from August this year.
The access to the Caspian Sea and border with Central Asia determine Azerbaijan's strategic position, and on this basis, Mexico recognizes Azerbaijan as an important partner in the region.
In recent years, the trade between Mexico and Azerbaijan has grown dramatically after opening of embassies in both countries. Azerbaijan opened its embassy in Mexico City in 2007 and Mexico followed suit by opening embassy in Baku in 2014.
According to the Mexican Economy Ministry, the average annual trade turnover between Mexico and Azerbaijan amounted to $1.2 million between 1993 and 2014, and an average of $9.6 million between 2015 and 2017, which means eightfold increase. Among the products sold are pipes, cars, tourist buses, motor boats, hake, beer and other products.
Mexico plans to organize the export of various types of products to Azerbaijan, in particular, to supermarkets of Mexican products in Baku.
In addition, Mexico intends to increase the number of trade delegations to Azerbaijan to expand trade relations between the countries. Previous Mexican trade delegations visited Azerbaijan in 2017 and in 2018.
Mexico is particularly interested in increasing tequila exports to Azerbaijani market. Every year, Mexico supplies 213.3 million liters of tequila to more than 120 countries.
Mexico and Azerbaijan strive to become a transit, trade and energy center in their regions. The countries have many opportunities for expanding cooperation in the oil and gas sector. Mexican Institute of Petroleum intends to establish exchange of experience and technologies with oil companies operating in Azerbaijan.
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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888
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