Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 4
By Sara Israfilbayova - Trend:
The Azerbaijani government has been making a major effort to attract foreign investments, Ambassador of Israel to Azerbaijan Dan Stav told Trend.
The ambassador stressed that the establishment of industrial and agricultural parks as well as the work done to establish the Free Trade Zone (FTZ), create great opportunities for investments, especially in agriculture, IT, light industry and so on.
He underlined that the relations between Azerbaijan and Israel are excellent, further saying that these relations are based on a well-balanced structure that includes intensive and crucial cooperation in a number of strategically important spheres such as defense and energy.
“These relations are based on common and sober understanding of the challenges created by the rise of political and violent radicalism in the middle East. They include deep respect for multiculturalism,” the envoy noted.
Speaking of economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel, Stav stressed that these relations are very impressive.
According to the ambassador, Israel imports a considerable part of its energy needs from Azerbaijan and is one of the most important destinations for the export of Azerbaijani oil.
“Yet, the governments of both countries are aware of the need to diversify and expand the trade relations to a number of other non-energy spheres such as agriculture, medicine, IT and so on,” Stav stressed.
Further, he emphasized that he strongly believes in the importance of joint ventures as a mean to deepen the bilateral ties between the two countries.
“The government of Israel welcomes any development of the economic connections between the two countries. I believe that the role of the governments is to create a conducive environment for the private sector to work freely without obstacles of any kind,” the envoy said.
According to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, trade turnover with Israel in 2018 amounted to $1.3 million.
As compared to the indicator for the same period of the last year, the trade turnover between the countries increased by 49.7 percent, while the exports of Azerbaijani products increased more than two times.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaS
