Development Of Economic Relations With Russia On Agenda Of Azerbaijan – OpEd

By Asim Suleymanov

The economic growth rate in the first seven months of 2018 is slightly lower than the forecast of the Azerbaijani government, but its acceleration is expected in the second half of the year not only due to the opening of new enterprises, but also to the implementation of other necessary measures.

As part of the strengthening of Azerbaijani-Russian economic cooperation, on August 30 Ilham Aliyev will pay a visit to Moscow to sign a large package of documents. First of all, the parties are aimed at increasing trade turnover, that in 2017 was 2.6 billion dollars. Russia’s contribution to the GDP per capita of our country for January-July 2018 amounted to more than 6%. Russia is on the list of the five largest trade partners of Azerbaijan for January-June 2018 with a trade turnover of 1.14 billion dollars (8.54% of the total trade turnover of Azerbaijan).

The intergovernmental commission, co-chaired by the heads of the ministries of economic development, is expected to meet before the end of the year.

In the near future, joint ventures will also be opened with Russian participation in Azerbaijan. They will form the background for further economic rapprochement. The priority is to move from a simple supply of goods to each other to work together to create value chains and joint ventures.

In general, we should admit, that over the past two years we see a positive dynamics in the development of economic relations between two countries.