Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijan and Ukraine have agreed to start consultations on enhancing cooperation in the agricultural sector at the expert level.

This was stated by Deputy Minister for European integration of Ukraine Vladislava Rutitskaya at a meeting with representatives of the Ministry and State Veterinary and Phytosanitary Service.

Rutitskaya believes that Azerbaijan is one of the strategic trade partners of Ukraine.

“In a short time we will form a delegation to Azerbaijan, which will include representatives of the ministry, competent authorities, leading agricultural companies and research institutions,” she said.

The Ukrainian official added that the food industry, including confectionery, alcohol, oil, milk, meat and tobacco sectors would provide for the fruitful cooperation. Moreover, Ukraine is considering the possibility of supplying food products to the Azerbaijani market.

The deputy minister noted that the Ukrainian meat and dairy processing plants are interested in the export of domestic products.

“Now we have a number of proposals from the Ukrainian Association of Breeders, which has analyzed the volumes and prepared a list of companies that are ready to export to Azerbaijan,” Rutitskaya said, adding that the country is also interested in large investment projects within creation of a logistics center.

Azerbaijan also offers to create a joint logistics center to maintain mutual supply of agro-industrial products. It is planned that the Ukrainian companies will provide three functions – delivery of fruits from Azerbaijan, their storage and distribution throughout Ukraine or its particular region.

According to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, in 2015 the trade turnover with Ukraine amounted to $333.13 million, about $309.65 million of which accounted for imports of Ukrainian products.

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Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

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