Ukraine and Azerbaijan plan to increase trade turnover to $1 billion a year

Ukraine is interested in increasing the export of agro-industrial products to the market of Azerbaijan, as well as the South Caucasus in general, to reach most of the countries of Central Asia, the Near and Middle East through this direction.

For this purpose, the issue of restoring the ferry connection between Ukraine and Georgia, including for the export-import of goods to Azerbaijan, is being worked out.

This was announced by the Ambassador of Ukraine to Azerbaijan, Yurii Husiev, within the framework of the Ukrainian-Azerbaijani business forum.

In particular, the president of the UAC Leonid Kozachenko took part in the event.

The purpose of the forum is to restore and establish direct business contacts to expand the opportunities of Ukrainian business on the Azerbaijani market, as well as to attract Azerbaijani investors to projects in Ukraine.

President of the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE) Anatolii Kinakh noted the drop in the volume of trade with Azerbaijan after the beginning of the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. It was halved, and by the end of 2023 it was $471 million.

"These results do not correspond to the potential of our economies and should be higher. The minimum goal is to reach pre-war indicators with further growth of trade", - noted A. Kinakh.

This opinion was supported by the Vice-President of the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs' (Employers') Organizations of Azerbaijan, Vuhar Zeynalov. According to him, bilateral agreements provided for a doubling of trade turnover in 2024. At the same time, the Ambassador of Ukraine, Yurii Husiev, noted that the high potential and real possibilities of intensifying trade and economic relations between our countries are emphasized within the framework of the ongoing dialogue between the Presidents of Ukraine and Azerbaijan.

The ULIE President outlined the priority areas for cooperation: the energy sector, processing in the agro-industrial complex, transport, energy engineering, joint access to the markets of the Near and Middle East.

"We expect the involvement of Azerbaijani business in projects to restore Ukraine from the consequences of the war. Russian aggression has already caused at least $700 billion worth of damage. Taking into account Azerbaijan's opportunities and experience in energy, such projects can be successful", - the leader of the business community of Ukraine is convinced.

Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Ukraine Seymour Mardaliev said that as of 2022, Azerbaijani investments in Ukraine amounted to 1.2 billion dollars. Agreements were reached on the possibility of leasing agricultural land, which would increase Azerbaijani investments in infrastructure, as well as the profitability of transport and logistics operations.

"Unfortunately, with the beginning of the Russian war against Ukraine, these plans were postponed. I believe that the work in this direction can be continued," he said.

In turn, the Azerbaijani side presented investment opportunities in Azerbaijan, which, as noted by S. Mardaliev, also arouses the interest of Ukrainian entrepreneurs.

The parties agreed on the preparation of a business visit of a delegation of Ukrainian industrialists and entrepreneurs to Azerbaijan. All recommendations developed within the framework of the forum on the activation of economic cooperation were transferred through the embassies of the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

IC UAC according to the ULIE