By Azernews

By Leman Mammadova

Having gathered Azerbaijani and Russian entrepreneurs, Baku hosted a joint business forum on April 4 in the framework of the visit of Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov to the capital.

Representatives of more than 60 Russian companies operating in various sectors of the economy, including in the fields of agriculture, ICT, automotive engineering, chemical industry and other sectors, came to Baku.

The business forum was attended by Azerbaijan’s Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev, Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan-Russia Business Council Samad Gurbanov, Acting President of the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) Yusif Abdullayev, Chief Director of the Russian Export Center Andrey Slepnev.

Speaking at the event, Mustafayev said that Russia and Azerbaijan have good dynamics of cooperation in many areas of the economy, as well as prospects for their growth.

He said that the trade turnover between the two countries in 2018 amounted to $2.5 billion, which is 19 percent more than in the previous year.

There are about 700 companies with Russian capital in Azerbaijan, he added. The minister noted that the value of investments by Russian companies in Azerbaijan amounted to $4.4 billion, and the value of Azerbaijani investments in Russia stood at $1.2 billion.

He said that the two countries have serious prospects for the development of cooperation in the field of agriculture, chemical engineering, industry and in a number of other sectors.

In turn, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov noted that Russia considers creation of joint ventures in the industrial sector as one of the priorities in cooperation with Azerbaijan.

“Russia is interested in strengthening trade and economic ties with Azerbaijan and is looking forward to strengthening partner cooperation in the foreseeable future,” said the minister.

Manturov stressed that Russian companies are actively increasing export potential and their competence in Azerbaijan.

Later, Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan-Russia Business Council Samad Gurbanov said that the development of Azerbaijan-Russia trade and economic cooperation demonstrates a serious dynamics of strengthening ties between the countries.

He stated that this contributes to the creation and implementation of joint business projects, as well as the effective deepening of relations between the business circles of Azerbaijan and Russia.

“Business representatives of the two countries are in constant contact,” said Gurbanov.

Speaking about the activities of the Azerbaijan-Russian Business Council, Gurbanov noted that one of its most important activities is to help strengthen contacts between the business circles of the two countries in forums, conferences and seminars.

“The business mission gathered such a large number of participants, from both the Azerbaijani and Russian sides, a fact that indicates a high interest in effective cooperation and implementation of joint projects,” noted Gurbanov.

He emphasized that such areas as engineering and digital technologies are very relevant for Azerbaijan and there is great potential for joint development and expansion of cooperation in this direction with Russian partners, including in terms of co-production and export to third countries.

“We believe that B2B contacts between Russian and Azerbaijani companies will give good results,” he concluded.

Azerbaijan and Russia have signed a number of agreements in Baku on economic cooperation within the framework of the business forum.

In particular, Sumgait Technology Park LLC signed an agreement on cooperation and organization of relations with Rostselmash KZ LLC and a memorandum of cooperation with Transmashholding LLC. This is while AzOkso LLC signed a memorandum of intent to jointly implement fencing systems with ServiceInvest LLC.