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Qabil Ashirov

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Spanning between China an Europe, the Turkic world with its $1.2 trillion GDP and over 170 million population is an emerging economic and political power. From an economic point of view, the integration of the Turkic world is getting strengthened day by day. Azerbaijan, among the Turkic-speaking countries, is more dynamic and determined in integration compared with others. The recent events confirm it.

Azerbaijan’s Economy Minister signed the Protocol on Amendments to the Preferential Trade Agreement that was previously mulled between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Republic of Turkiye, and Azerbaijan approved the Agreement on international combined cargo transportation between the governments of the member states of the Organization of Turkic States.

Speaking to Azernews about the integration of Turkic-speaking countries from its economic perspectives, the economic expert Eldeniz Amirov said that as the preferential trade agreement between Azerbaijan and Turkiye was signed in February 2020, certain increases in the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Turkiye have been observed so far.

“However, it had been predicted that in the near future, the trade turnover between the two states would reach $15bn. Although during the pandemic period, it had a negative impact on the trade turnover like all other areas, in the post-pandemic period, the growth has accelerated again. Even last year there was a serious increase. In 2021, the trade turnover between Turkiye and Azerbaijan amounted to $4.6bn, and last year this figure approached $6bn,” the Economist pointed out.

Emphasizing that Turkiye owns the biggest economy among the Turkic-speaking countries, Amirov said that the agreement is very important for Azerbaijan. He reminded that the previous agreement increased the trade, and the Protocol on Amendments to the Preferential Trade Agreement will augment further and branch out the trade in turn of volume and variety.

“Turkiye owns $900bn GDP in the Turkish world with a GDP of $1.2 trillion. Therefore, such a trade agreement with Turkiye is important. At the current stage, we are talking about strengthening this preferential trade agreement, that is, increasing the number and variety of goods and products included in this trade agreement, which will have a positive effect on the trade turnover, as well as on mutual trade relations,” the expert noted.

The Economist thinks that such kind of agreements will be signed with other Turkic-speaking countries in the future. He said that this will be a factor supporting the overall integration of the Turkic world, both economically and politically.

As for the Agreement on international combined cargo transportation, he noted that this is a pilot project and it paves the way for much more integration.

“In the new agreement on cargo transportation, serious successes will be observed at the initial stage, even if it is intended as a pilot project. Currently, Turkic-speaking countries are integrating with each other very fast from an economic point of view. For example, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan increased by 4.7 times, and Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan increased by 4 times. Azerbaijan's trade turnover with Uzbekistan alone increased by 64 percent last year; an increase of 17 percent with Kyrgyzstan. This is a very serious and enormous growth. It is clear that this agreement will show its support in the improvement of trade turnover and economic relations in general, as a result of simplification of customs procedures and more efficient implementation of import and export processes and logistic activity,” the Economist added.

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