Ambassador: Azerbaijan keen to boost trade with Indonesia

Baku. 19 May. REPORT.AZ/ Azerbaijan says it is keen to boost trade with Indonesia as well as seeking fresh investment opportunities in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, in order to strengthen economic ties in the future.

To enable more robust trade, Azerbaijan is seeking direct delivery of goods from Indonesia and vice versa

Report informs citing the Jakarta Post, the Azerbaijan Ambassador to Indonesia, Tamerlan Karayev noted.

At present, bilateral trade is through third-party countries, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Turkey. Hence, despite the popularity of Indonesian goods there, many Azerbaijanis do not know where they originate from.

"The quality and prices of [Indonesian] goods, such as furniture, are really good in Azerbaijan, that's why we want to make it easier for our investors and traders by having direct connections with Indonesian partners," Karayev said recently.
Apart from buying more from Indonesia, Azerbaijan is also seeking to export more, which would include agriculture products, such as fruit, vegetables and cotton, and chemicals, he added.

Trade between Indonesia and Azerbaijan has followed an upward trend in the past five years, surging by 21.84 percent on average each year to reach 2.43 billion dollars in 2014. Of that figure, Indonesia’s exports only totaled 5.57 million dollars while Azerbaijani imports made up the vast bulk of the trade, resulting in a sizeable deficit.
Crude oil is the major commodity that Indonesia buys from the South Caucasus nation. Meanwhile, Indonesian exporters shipped primarily wood products, refrigerators, table and kitchenware, paper and soap.
Karayev added that Azerbaijani investors would also look into investing in sectors where they demonstrated expertise, such as oil refining, infrastructure and agriculture.
"Our firms should see the projects first. If they are economically interesting to them, they will be ready to come," he added.