Co-chair of the Azerbaijan-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation from the Azerbaijani side, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Shahin Mustafayev and co-chair of the Commission from the Russian side, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexei Overchuk held a video conference, TurkicWorld reports.
Representatives of the relevant government agencies of both countries also participated in the meeting.
Issues on the agenda, as well as achievements and prospects for cooperation in economy and commerce, mutual investments, industry, transport and logistics, customs and border, oil and gas, energy, including renewable energy, agriculture, and food safety, banking, interregional relations, humanitarian and other areas, were discussed during the meeting.
The sides noted that 2022 is significant for the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Russia. It was also emphasized that the 20th-anniversary meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission will be held in Baku in April-May this year.
They hailed the fact that despite the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, the trade between Azerbaijan and Russia rose by more than 12 percent to reach $3 billion in 2021. The first cargo train launched from Azerbaijan to Russia on February 12 as part of the Agroexpress project was evaluated as a successful result of joint activities between the two countries.
During the meeting, the role of the Azerbaijan-Russia and Russia-Azerbaijan business councils in the development of relations between business circles and determination of new opportunities of cooperation was highly appreciated, and the active work of the Russian Export Center in this context was noted.
It was noted that the sides will continue providing overall support for increasing mutual investments between the two countries and that Azerbaijan invested $1.2 billion in the Russian economy, while Russia invested more than $6 billion in the Azerbaijani economy.
The sides underlined the favorable opportunities for Russian companies to take part in projects implemented in industrial parks of Azerbaijan and that 14 Russian companies had already applied for working in the Azerbaijani territories liberated from occupation.
Different industries, including car manufacturing, production of medical preparations, construction materials, railways, winemaking, helicopter and car repair and others were assessed as a manifestation of successful cooperation.
It was noted that the volume of exports of fruits and vegetables from Azerbaijan to Russia in 2021 increased by 6 percent. From this viewpoint, an extension of the period of permission to carry fruits and vegetables from Azerbaijan to Russia by railway till 1 January 2023 was highly appreciated. Besides, it was stated that Russia was the main supplier of mineral manures and feeding plants to Azerbaijan. The level of cooperation in transport and logistics was highly evaluated, the increase in the volume of road transport rose by 6,6 percent, and transit goods – by 14,3 percent was especially emphasized.
The two sides stressed the importance of the North-South international transport corridor and said that active work was underway both in Azerbaijan and Russia to expand opportunities as part of this corridor. The prospects for the establishment of an integrated operator mechanism for this corridor were also discussed.
The parties described the Azerbaijan-Russia Interregional Forum as an important platform for the development of relations between the regions, and that the 11th Forum will be held in the second half of 2022.
The two sides stressed that they were ready for continuing the constructive dialogue aimed at strengthening and expanding the relations between Azerbaijan and Russia in all areas of cooperation.
