Deputy Minister: Azerbaijan - key partner of Kazakhstan in South Caucasus

Azerbaijan is a key partner of Kazakhstan in the South Caucasus. Trade cooperation between the two countries is developing very vigorously, Kazakhstan's Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vasilenko told Report in Astana.

The deputy minister noted that at the end of last year, trade turnover between the two countries increased and amounted to $500 million, and they intend to increase the volume of mutual trade turnover to $1 billion, Vasilenko said.

“The trade turnover between our countries is showing great dynamics and we, of course, are happy about this,” stated the deputy minister, noting that agriculture accounts for a large share of bilateral cooperation.

“A promising direction is the development of cooperation in the IT sector; active work is underway to lay fiber-optic communications along the bottom of the Caspian Sea,” Vasilenko said.

The deputy minister added that another major direction of cooperation between the two countries is the transit and export of Kazakhstan’s energy resources to world markets.

Vasilenko emphasized that Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are also supporting other countries for the implementation of the Middle Corridor project: “It is gratifying that we have active cooperation with Azerbaijan and Georgia to eliminate the so-called ‘bottlenecks’ and develop this corridor based on signed road maps.”

“Work is underway to create a unified transport company that will carry out freight transport through the three countries and contribute to increasing the competitiveness and attractiveness of this corridor,” he said.

Commenting on the cooperation of the two countries within the framework of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), the deputy foreign minister recalled that Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are one of the founding countries of this organization, and on November 3, 2023, the 10th summit of the OTS countries will be held in Kazakhstan.