Baku, May 22, AZERTAC

Organized with the support of the Small and Medium Business Development Agency of Azerbaijan, Governor of Tyumen region, All-Russian Non-Governmental Organization of Small and Medium Business “Opora Russia” and the Caspian European Club, the second international online ‘Azerbaijan-Tyumen’ B2B forum has explored issues and challenges facing companies during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Companies’ suggestions and a possibility of activation of cooperation in the post-pandemic period were also discussed.

Vice President of the “Opora Russia” Organization, Deputy of Tyumen region duma Eduard Omarov and Chairman/CEO of the Caspian European Club and Caspian Energy Telman Aliyev were the moderators of the international B2B forum.

Addressing the forum, Eduard Omarov noted: “Everything new is well forgotten old. The first teleconference was organized back in 1982. Until today we could not imagine cooperation with other organizations and states without a face to face meeting. At present it seems as if we are going back to the days of the first teleconferences and learning how to communicate online and do it effectively all over again. Over the past 2 months, the online format has shown that you can achieve very high results with minimal expenses”.

Telman Aliyev thanked the representatives of Tyumen region and personally Eduard Omarov for their promptness and readiness to cooperate. Speaking at the forum, Telman Aliyev said: “Azerbaijani-Russian relations are at a very high level today, and this is the result of the work done, first of all, by the heads of our states. We held our first forum with the participation of the Governor of Tyumen region and decided to move beyond. Today, we can once again establish a dialogue with a wider audience of entrepreneurs because an online format makes it possible for us to do it.

At traditional conferences, it is possible to communicate only with a person sitting on your right and left, here, on the online platform, we can use the chat to get contacts of any participant and continue communication”.

“As a result of the conference, I saw a very great prospect in two areas: the first is to exchange experience in the oil industry, agriculture and tourism; the second is the possibility of creating joint ventures with Tyumen region”, Deputy Chairman of the Small and Medium Business Development Agency of Azerbaijan Rufat Atakishiyev said.

Assessing the potential of conducted events, Deputy Governor of Tyumen region Andrey Panteleyev said: “The government of Tyumen region has been working on export development for a long time. We have already stepped over the figure of more than 3 million dollars in trade relations with Azerbaijan. There are opportunities for the growth of trade turnover”.

Top managers of public and private companies representing different sectors of the economy of the two countries also joined the discussions of the international online ‘Azerbaijan-Tyumen’ B2B forum which lasted for two hours.

An exchange of opinions was carried out following the speeches. Top managers and representatives of companies asked their questions to the speakers. A decision to continue discussions on a monthly basis in a two-or three-sided format was made. The next international online B2B forum, which is planned to be organized jointly with the "Opora Russia" organization, will be dedicated to the trilateral relations "Azerbaijan-Russia-Kazakhstan”.

The international online B2B forum is a unique platform for international business networking, created by the Caspian European Club, where business representatives share business development proposals and establish new business contacts with heads of companies engaged in different sectors of the economy of the Caspian-Black Sea and Baltic region countries.

The Caspian European Club, which brings together over 5,000 companies and organizations from 50 countries, was established in June 2002. The major objective of the Caspian European Club is to improve the investment and business climate in Azerbaijan and in other countries where the Caspian European Club operates, as well as to stimulate and actively participate in the B2G, B2B and B2C dialogues.

The head office of the Caspian European Club is in Baku (Azerbaijan). The Caspian European Club also has official representative offices in Georgia and Kazakhstan, and authorized representatives in the USA, Germany, Poland, Latvia and the Czech Republic.