Azernews.Az

By Rasana Gasimova

For many years, Azerbaijan and Latvia have been developing strong business ties. Currently, the main directions of bilateral cooperation between the two countries are trade relations.

Foreign direct investments of Azerbaijan in Latvia reached 17 million euros in the first quarter of 2019, compared to 13 million euros during the same period of 2018, Ralfs Nemiro, Latvian Minister of Economy, told Trend.

“Azerbaijani foreign direct investments in Latvia have an increasing trend. However, Latvian foreign direct investments in Azerbaijan are still less than one million euros”, he added.

Nemiro believes that development of joint ventures is one of the most effective forms of economic cooperation between business representatives of Azerbaijan and Latvia.

“At the moment, there are 50 companies with Azerbaijani capital in Latvia. Latvia is interested in mutually beneficial investment flows”, he said.

Nemiro added that Azerbaijan is an important economic partner of Latvia in the Caucasus region, and the development of mutually beneficial economic relations is essential for Latvia.

“Data from Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia indicates that the turnover between Latvia and Azerbaijan was 28 million euros in 2018. The number was the same in 2017. It is gratifying that over the past two years, the turnover has increased,” he noted, adding that the turnover is dominated by Azerbaijani exports.

Nemiro also expressed his satisfaction with the diversification of primary products exchange between Azerbaijan and Latvia over the past two years.

“Recently, food has been dominating in exports from Azerbaijan to Latvia, but export of mineral products, metals and metal products has begun to grow. The export from Latvia to Azerbaijan is dominated by food, in particular products of animal origin, as well as machinery and electrical equipment, metal products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, building materials, etc.,” he noted.

Presently, about 40 Latvian companies operate in construction, service, industry, communications, transport, trade, banking and insurance sectors of Azerbaijan.

On July 23, 2018, Azerbaijan's Trading House was opened in Riga, Latvia, aimed at promotion of the “Made in Azerbaijan” brand in the Latvian market. Latvia is currently working to open a similar business venture in Baku.

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