Baku, Ankara eye joint projects on SMBs support

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and Turkey have discussed the implementation of joint projects to support small and medium-sized businesses.

The discussion took place during a meeting between Azerbaijan’s Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communications executive director Vusal Gasimli with Turkey’s Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization deputy board chairman Salih Sahin.

During the meeting, Gasimli provided an update on the work done to support the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the country's favorable business environment.

He also stated that 88 percent of the "Strategic roadmap for consumer goods production at the level of small and medium entrepreneurship" was implemented between 2016 and 2021.

The parties also talked about how SMBs can get help with finance and credit, insurance, taxation, customs, and public procurement, among other things.

Azerbaijan and Turkey collaborate in a variety of economic fields, and have completed major energy and infrastructure projects such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, and TANAP.

In 2021, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed the Shusha Declaration on Allied Relations, which focuses on defence cooperation, promoting regional stability and prosperity, and establishing new transportation routes.

The two countries set up a goal to bring the mutual trade turnover to $15 billion in 2023. As of 2021, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $4.6 billion.

It should be noted that so far, Turkey is Azerbaijan’s second-largest investor followed by the UK.

Additionally, Turkey was one of the first countries that expressed its interest and readiness to participate in the restoration of Azerbaijan’s liberated territories.