The 17th meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on trade and economic cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Kazakhstan was held on September 9. The delegations headed by co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Commission, Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Parviz Shahbazov and Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan Bakhyt Sultanov attended the meeting.
Addressing the meeting, Minister of Energy, Co-Chair of the Commission Parviz Shahbazov congratulated Bakhyt Sultanov on his appointment as Co-Chair of the Intergovernmental Commission and wished him success. He noted that the Intergovernmental Commission plays an important role in the sustainable development of political, economic and humanitarian relations between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, and expressed his confidence that today’s event will be fruitful in creating new opportunities for further development and strengthening cooperation based on mutual interests. The minister stressed that Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are bound up with strong friendship and fraternal ties based on common history, similar cultural and moral values, and that today’s high-level relations are achieved thanks to the unprecedented services of national leader Heydar Aliyev and Kazakhstan’s Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev. It was noted that as a result of the far-sighted policy of these prominent statesmen, the two countries have become a regional power, and today Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are initiators of many important transnational projects. Reciprocal official visits and meetings play an important role in strengthening cooperation. The results of numerous meetings held by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev with the first President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and bilateral documents signed within the framework of these meetings create favorable political and legal basis for the development of bilateral relations.
The minister also noted that during the 7 months of 2021 the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to 62 million USD and there is great potential for increasing the volume of export-import operations in all areas of trade cooperation. “152 enterprises operating in the industrial, agricultural, trade, service, construction and transport sectors of Kazakhstan have been registered in Azerbaijan. During 1995-2021, Azerbaijan invested 203.7 million USD in Kazakhstan and Kazakhstan – 94.8 million USD.” It was also brought to the attention that the bilateral positive trade dynamics in the energy sector was observed. “Today, Kazakhstan’s crude oil and oil products are transported via the Caspian Sea and Azerbaijan to the Black Sea terminals. In 2020, “SOCAR Trading S.A.” purchased 106 thousand tons of crude oil of Kazakhstan origin to supply more to the world market via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. For seven months of this year, this figure amounted to 71 thousand tons,” the minister added. It was also highlighted that complex measures are being taken in Azerbaijan to increase the share of renewable energy sources in energy efficiency and energy production and consumption. It was noted that the exchange of experience in this direction was successfully implemented and opportunities for cooperation with Kazakh companies interested in the field will also be considered.
Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan, Co-Chairman of the Commission Bakhyt Sultanov conveyed his congratulations on the occasion of the liberation of the historical Azerbaijani lands. The minister spoke about the current status of interstate cooperation, the activity of the Intergovernmental Commission, as well as the contribution of today’s meeting to the further development of bilateral relations. He said that the data on trade turnover between the two countries indicate the prospects of increasing the use of the existing cooperation potential. Kazakhstan is ready to increase the supply of goods demanded for the economy of Azerbaijan as soon as possible. Metallurgical industry, petrochemical industry, food industry, etc. can be attributed to these areas. At the same time, Kazakhstan, in turn, is interested in a number of other industrial products such as the supply of agricultural products, petrochemicals. Bakhyt Sultanov stressed that along with traditional trade and economic cooperation, it is necessary to create mutually beneficial ties in the effective reconstruction of transport – logistics trade chains. “According to forecasts, by 2028 the volume of trade flows around the world will grow by 45%, and the bulk of logistics will be in land transport. Now our task is to correctly integrate the Trans-Caspian transport corridor into the global supply chain system,” the minister said.
At the meeting, the current situation in the trade, economic, energy, transport, logistics, industrial and information and communication spheres, agriculture and food security since the 16th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission held on October 9, 2019 in Baku and the activities implemented to develop bilateral ties were reviewed, further steps to expand cooperation were discussed, joint measures in specific areas to further deepen cooperation in relevant areas were identified.
At the end of meeting, a protocol was signed on the outcomes of the 17th meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Kazakhstan The document was signed by the Co-Chairs of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission – Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov and Kazakh Trade and Integration Minister Bakhyt Sultanov.
The sides agreed to hold the 18th meeting of the Commission in Nur-Sultan in 2022.
