Azerbaijan’s trade turnover with countries of the Caspian region increased by more than 45 percent in the period of January-August 2022, Prime Minister Ali Asadov said.
He made the remarks while speaking at the plenary session of the 2nd Caspian Economic Forum in Moscow.
“It’s gratifying that as the pandemic weakens, Azerbaijan’s trade turnover with Caspian states is also returning to the growth trajectory,” he said.
Speaking about the cooperation in the transport and transit sector, he noted that an annual increase in cargo transportation through the Azerbaijani territory along the East-West and North-South corridors is observed.
“Transit cargo transportation through Azerbaijan along the East-West corridor increased by 20 percent, and along the North-South route by 33 percent in eight months of 2022,” he said.
The prime minister called the Baku International Sea Trade Port a key link in these transport corridors, adding that work is underway to increase its transshipment capacity from 15 to 25 million tons of cargo per year.
Transport corridors
Moreover, he mentioned that the first trilateral meeting between Azerbaijan, Russia, and Iran held on September 9, was an important step for the development of the international North-South transport corridor.
“As a result of the meeting, the Baku Declaration was signed, in which, the parties expressed their readiness to cooperate and assess the possibilities for bringing the level of transit along the North-South corridor to 15 million tons per year by 2030,” he said.
Ali Asadov also emphasized that the new realities that have developed after the liberation of Azerbaijan’s territories make it possible to expand the possibilities of transport routes in the region.
“Today Azerbaijan is actively working on the development of regional transport and communication projects. In this sense, the [possible] opening of the Zangazur corridor is very important,” he said.
Communication projects
The prime minister also touched upon the communication projects, within the framework of which an optical fiber cable is being laid from Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan along the bottom of the Caspian Sea.
“Recently the leading telecommunication operators of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan signed a memorandum on strategic partnership on the relevant project in Astana, Kazakhstan,” he said.
Energy sector cooperation
He underlined that there are great opportunities for the Caspian states to increase cooperation in the energy sector.
Noting the successful implementation of hydrocarbon production in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, he added that companies from Russia and Iran also participate in this process.
Moreover, Ali Asadov also mentioned the agreement reached between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on joint exploration and development of the Dostlug hydrocarbon field in the Caspian Sea.
“Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan use the transport and pipeline infrastructure of Azerbaijan for the transit of their energy resources,” he said, Azernews reports.
