Azernews.Az

By Rasana Gasimova

Azerbaijan and China enjoy good relations, and bilateral ties are developing successfully in various fields. Currently, the relations are going to enter a new phase within the Belt and Road Initiative.

China intends to expand cooperation with Azerbaijan and take the bilateral relations to a new level, Chinese Ambassador to Azerbaijan Guo Min has said.

“The trade turnover between China and Azerbaijan reached $1,5 billion in January-August 2019. This is twice as much as that of the same period in 2018. Baku considers relations with Beijing to be a priority orientation of its foreign policy,” Min told in an interview with Xinhua news agency.

Azerbaijan and China have intensified the exchange of high-level visits since the beginning of 2019, the ambassador reminded. The two countries have enhanced cooperation in trade, economy, energy, transport and humanitarian spheres. Cooperation in all of these spheres is highly fruitful.

“Azerbaijan fully supports 'One belt, one road' initiative and takes an active part in it. This initiative goes well with Azerbaijan’s national development strategy. Thanks to this, bilateral practical cooperation in the trade, economy, transport, energy and other fields is bearing fruits,” she said.

She recalled that the leaders of Azerbaijan and China reached an important consensus on the further development of bilateral relations and business cooperation in various fields on the sidelines of the second international forum “One belt, one road” held in April 2019.

“Prominent figures of art and culture of the two countries exchanged visits, and several film festivals, art exhibitions and other events aimed at active promotion of mutual understanding and friendship between the people were held," Min added.

As for cooperation between the two states, it should be noted that noticeable results have been achieved in the non-oil sector. The deals signed in April 2019 include plans to construct the Sumgayit Chemical-Industrial Park to produce automobile tires, a 300 hectare greenhouse complex in Azerbaijan’s Kurdamir region, as well as agro-industrial development parks in Guba, Goychay and Khachmaz regions.

Moreover, within the tourism cooperation, memorandum of understanding on the simplification of group trips of Chinese tourists to Azerbaijan was signed in March 2018, which laid a legal base for expanding cooperation in this area.

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