ASTANA – Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan business leaders signed export contracts worth $55 million to supply batteries, sheet steel, and food products during an April 5 trade and economic mission in Baku, reported the QazTrade Trade Policy Development Center.
The event was held ahead of the 19th meeting of Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan intergovernmental commission in Baku. Photo credit: Qaztrade.
More than 20 Kazakh companies in food production, metallurgy and metalworking, IT services, chemical, construction, and engineering industries, and over 100 Azerbaijan entrepreneurs attended the event. They held business-to-business (B2B) negotiations.
According to Kazakh Deputy Minister of Trade and Integration Kairat Torebayev, B2B meetings strengthen trade and economic cooperation between countries.
“Kazakh entrepreneurs are interested in Azerbaijan’s market. However, the potential of our mutual trade is still not used even half. Markets of both countries have mutual demand for cooperation. We can develop the markets of third countries. Moreover, important international transport corridors pass through our territories,” said Torebayev.
Last year, the bilateral trade turnover reached $461.9 million, 39 percent higher than in the same period of the previous year ($332.2 million).
The Kazakh exports to Azerbaijan in the reporting period increased by 30.4 percent to $375.3 million, driven by a surge in the supply of crude oil, wheat, oil products, rails, cargo, passenger ships, and ferries.
