Georgian, Azeri Economy ministers discuss mutual cooperation
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, June 15
Georgia and Azerbaijan are taking steps to deepen their mutual economic cooperation. Future prospects were discussed at the meeting of Georgian Economy Minister Giorgi Gakharia and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Shahin Mustafayev, in Baku on June 14.
Gakharia stated that the meeting was very fruitful, as several joint working groups were set up and concrete steps were discussed at the meeting.
“Azerbaijan is one of Georgia's leading most important trade partners, and the foreign direct investments from this country are growing in Georgia. I think our cooperation and partnerships will improve the economic success of both countries,” said Giorgi Gakharia.
“We clearly understand the importance of economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Georgia in terms of a transport corridor as well as in terms of trade and tourism,” the minister stated after the meeting.
Shahin Mustafayev underlined that Georgia and Azerbaijan are strategic partners and cooperation between them deepens every year.
“My colleague and I discussed the issue of transport corridors, including the Silk Road route, where Georgia and Azerbaijan are actively involved. We also discussed current strategic projects, talked about transportation, trade, agriculture, information technology, tourism, investment and other important issues,” he said.
The Azerbaijani Economy Minister claimed that during the first four months, trade turnover between the two countries has increased by almost fifty percent.
“There is still a lot of potential in this direction, which makes it possible to increase our trade turnover in the future,” Mustafayev added.
Prior meeting his counterpart, Giorgi Gakharia had a meeting with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.
The sides talked about the current trade-economic relations between the two countries and the prospects of the development of the transit capabilities. It was noted at the meeting that the trade turnover between Georgia and Azerbaijan is increased during the last four months and this trend should be continued in the future.
“We believe that it is important to use the potential of the two countries in order to increase the number of tourists and to attract them more easily,” Gakharia stated after the completion of the meeting.
The Minister confirmed that the Silk Road Forum and the transit corridors, which are of outmost importance for the both countries, were also topical issues during his conversation with Ilham Aliyev. According to the Georgian minister, development of the East-West corridor was discussed alongside the development of the South-North transportation corridor.
