By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Turkiye has increased by 34 percent to $4.35 billion in January-September 2022, Azerbaijan’s Prime Minister Ali Asadov said.

He made the remarks at the 10th meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkiye, Azernews reports.

“There are good opportunities for further expansion of economic and trade cooperation in the post-pandemic period. In this regard, the decisions and agreements reached at the meeting of the Azerbaijan-Turkiye strategic cooperation council and the intergovernmental commission are of particular importance,” he said.

The prime minister expressed confidence that the expansion of the scope of the preferential trade agreement, as well as the implementation of action plans signed between the two countries, will contribute to a further increase in trade turnover.

Moreover, speaking at the meeting, Ali Aasadov stated that the relations between Azerbaijan and Turkiye have reached the highest peak of strategic partnership and alliance. He noted that the signing of the Shusha Declaration strengthened the relations between the two countries even further, raised them to the level of alliance, and demonstrated to the world the exemplary nature of friendship and brotherhood between the two countries.

He stressed that Azerbaijani-Turkish relations have moved from a bilateral format to a regional one as a result of the decisive efforts of Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“Azerbaijan and Turkiye also play an important role in ensuring the energy security of Europe through their jointly implemented large-scale projects,” he said.

Speaking about the development of cooperation in the transport sector, Ali Asadov mentioned that the total volume of freight transported between the two countries increased by 60.2 percent in the first nine months of the year, including an increase in transit cargo by 96.3 percent.

“The Kars-Igdir-Aralik-Dilucu-Sadarak-Nakhchivan-Julfa railway project is of great importance in terms of providing a direct railway connection between the major part of Azerbaijan and Turkiye via Nakhchivan,” he said.

Further, the prime minister expressed confidence that the opening of the Zangazur corridor and the construction of the Nakhchivan railway will further boost the expansion of Azerbaijan-Turkiye economic and trade relations. He added that it will also provide good opportunities for cooperation and contribute to the economic progress of the regional countries.

“Azerbaijan-Turkiye unity proves itself in the restoration of Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur. Large-scale construction activities and important infrastructure projects carried out in the liberated territories with the participation of the Turkish companies,” he said.

For his turn, Fuat Oktay noted that regular meetings between the presidents of the two countries make a special contribution to the expansion of successfully developing relations.

Saying that the Azerbaijan-Turkiye partnership has become stronger in recent years, he stated that the large-scale transport and energy projects implemented by the two countries are of great importance for the region.

At the end of the meeting, Ali Asadov and Fuat Oktay signed the protocol of the 10th meeting of the Azerbaijan-Turkiye intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation and action plans covering a number of cooperative areas.

The officials signed the “agreement between the government of Azerbaijan and the government of Turkiye on cooperation in the seed production sector”, “agreement on cooperation in the field of plant protection and quarantine”, “protocol on cooperation between Azerbaijan’s Food Security Agency and Turkiye’s Halal Accreditation Agency”, “memorandum of intent between Azerbaijan’s Small and Medium Business Development Agency and Turkiye’s Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization to expand the access of SMBs to financial resources”, as well as “agreement on bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan’s Export and Investment Promotion Agency and Turkish Exporters Assembly”.

The meeting, co-chaired by Ali Asadov and Fuat Oktay and attended by heads of relevant government agencies of both countries, was held in Baku on November 4.