Baku, Azerbaijan, May 20
By Emin Aliyev, Gulgiz Dadasheva - Trend:
Georgia has never considered the Russian market as an alternative to others, especially not as a substitute for the Azerbaijani market, Georgian Finance Minister Nodar Khaduri told Trend on May 19.
"Georgia will always be interested in Azerbaijan," he said. "Your country is one of Georgia's most important trade partners in terms of imports and exports. We intend to restore our share on the Azerbaijani market."
Khaduri was commenting on a decrease in Georgia's export share to Azerbaijan amid Russia's increasing share in its structure.
Azerbaijan's share in Georgia's export structure as of the first quarter of the year diminished from 25.4 percent to 20.9 percent. At the same time, Russia's share in Georgia's exports increased from 2.5 percent to 9.7 percent.
"Georgia is interested in maintaining an active presence in developing markets," Khaduri noted.
"In particular, this means the neighboring and Central Asian markets," he added.
Azerbaijan is Georgia's second largest trading partner. The turnover between Georgia and Azerbaijan reached $319.75 million in the first quarter of this year alone. In January-March 2014, $45.68 million worth of goods, or 20.9 percent of a total export volume during the period were exported from Georgia to Azerbaijan, according to the Georgian National Statistics Service.
