POLITICS
Russia's Deputy Minister of Economic Development: 'We regard Azerbaijan our reliable partner'
Moscow, October 10, AZERTAC
Azerbaijan is one of the most effective trade partners of Russia in the CIS space, Russia's Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexei Likhachev told Russian media. According to Likhachev, 600 Russian enterprises operate in Azerbaijan including joint ventures: "We also observe the active presence of Azerbaijani business in Russia. In 2014 and the first half of this year, we achieved a significant increase in agricultural supply, " said Likhachev.
The Deputy Minister said that Russia has invited Azerbaijan to cooperate in the field of 'counter-sanctions'. He emphasized that Russia retaliated by limiting the supply of several agricultural products from a number of countries. The free marketplace, according to Russian official, is being steadily occupied by Azerbaijani companies.
'Today, the ministries of agriculture of the two countries discussed issues of mutual market access for agricultural products. There is potential for Russian companies too… And we can talk about future projects such as the helicopter engineering, shipbuilding and high technologies," said Likhachev.
He also stressed that regulatory framework is also developing. "The result of our joint work with the Azerbaijan Ministry of Economic Development was the agreement on protection of investments. This important breakthrough agreement will allow a number of Azerbaijani companies to work actively in Russia, and Russian companies - in Azerbaijan. We are developing the medium-term program of trade-economic cooperation until 2020. The program will focus on main areas and key projects for the development of our bilateral relations. As part of our multilateral contacts with CIS member states, we regard Azerbaijan as very reliable partner,' said Russian official.
Farida Abdullayeva
Special correspondent