Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 17
Trend:
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are partners and the two countries’ economic systems complement each other, Rashad Mammadov, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan, said in an interview with Trend.
“Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan didn’t become rivals despite the fact that they both are oil producing countries and the main source of their income, the main driver of their economies is the development, production, transportation and sale of energy resources and hydrocarbons,” the diplomat said.
“Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are not only good neighbors, but also long-term partners. We are opening up new good opportunities for each other,” Mammadov said.
He added that today Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan cooperate both in bilateral format and within international organizations.
“We support each other’s initiatives. An intergovernmental commission for economic issues operates between our countries, and this commission meets annually and reviews all the arising issues,” he said.
“Effective work is underway for more fruitful cooperation,” the diplomat noted. “We can say for sure that we don’t have any unsolvable problems. We easily solve all the issues that arise in the course of cooperation.”
Speaking about the economic cooperation between the two countries, the diplomat noted that Kazakhstan is a market for Azerbaijani investors.
“Geographically, we are very close. The Caspian Sea connects us; daily ferry services, daily agricultural trips to Kazakhstan create good logistics both for cargo transportation and visits of tourists and businessmen,” said Mammadov.
“Our businessmen are represented in various spheres of the Kazakh economy. First of all, we export to Kazakhstan oil engineering products that are traditionally developed in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan is a good market for these products,” noted the ambassador. “The western regions of Kazakhstan are unfit for the development of agriculture due to climatic conditions; there is a serious shortage of water, some cities use desalinators, and therefore, these regions are attractive as a market for agricultural products.”
Mammadov also noted that an Azerbaijani trade mission is to visit Kazakhstan in April in order to give momentum to economic relations.
A trade mission of more than 20 Azerbaijani companies, which want to export their products to Kazakhstan, will be in Almaty on Apr. 24 and in Astana on Apr. 25.
“This doesn’t mean that there are only 20 companies,” said the diplomat, adding that among them there are holdings, which include various plants and factories.
“Therefore, we can say that representatives of 80-90 plants will visit Kazakhstan,” added Mammadov.
“Our task is to ensure the participation of potential partners from the Kazakh side in these events in order to achieve mutually beneficial cooperation,” said the Azerbaijani ambassador.
