Turk's economic power, or real business between Azerbaijan and Turkic Council 

Last week, Baku hosted the 12th meeting of the Working Group on the economy of Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (Turkic Council) and the 10th meeting of economy ministers of the member states.

A number of economic proposals were discussed among the member states of the Council - Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, as well as Hungary, an observer state of the CSTO, and various issues were resolved at these meetings.

Citing the figures provided by the State Customs Committee, Report presents the volume of trade turnover among the member states in January-August.

Trade turnover with an increase of USD 1 billion within a year

In January-August 2021, Azerbaijan's trade turnover with the Turkic Council member states stood at USD 4,808,300,000, showing a growth of 57.9% or USD 1,763,700,000 compared to a year earlier. This figure made up 23.7% of the total trade turnover.

In the reporting period, the exports to the member states amounted to USD 2,929,300,000, while the imports from these countries totaled USD 1,878,900,000, respectively, up USD 987,945,000 or 50.9% and USD 775,784,000 or 70.3% from the previous year.

The exports to the Turkic Council member states constituted 22.6% of Azerbaijan's total exports, while imports accounted for 25.5%.

About USD 3 billion-trade turnover with Turkey

Over the past eight months of 2021, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Turkey amounted to USD 2,885,000,000, 0.5% less than a year ago. This figure was 14.22% of foreign trade.

In January-August 2021, exports to Turkey made up USD 1,756,000,000, imports from Turkey stood at USD 1,128,000,000, respectively, down 8.3% and up 14.7% from the same period of 2020.

Exports to Turkey constituted 13.58% of Azerbaijan's total exports, while import from Turkey was 15.35% of total imports.

Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan

From January through August 2021, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan increased by 3.7% to USD 71,243,000. Exports to Kazakhstan made up USD 22,204,000, while imports from Kazakhstan amounted to USD 49,039,000, respectively, 22.03% more and 2.9% less than a year earlier.

The exports to this country accounted for 0.17% of Azerbaijan's total exports. Imports from Kazakhstan were equal to 0.67% of total imports.

Azerbaijan quintuples exports to Kyrgyzstan

In January-August this year, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan amounted to USD 6,977,000, which is 2.2 times more than in the same period last year.

The value of Azerbaijan's exports to Kyrgyzstan in the first eight months of this year amounted to USD 4.733 million, five times more than a year earlier.

Azerbaijan imported goods worth USD 2.244 million from Kyrgyzstan, demonstrating a 2.15% growth compared to a year ago.

Azerbaijan's exports to Kyrgyzstan accounted for 0.04% of total exports, while imports from Kyrgyzstan stood at 0.03% of total imports.

Exports to Uzbekistan more than double

Over the past eight months of 2021, the value of goods traded between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan amounted to USD 61,844,000, 31.4% higher than the previous year.

Exports to and imports from Uzbekistan during the reporting period, respectively, increased by 2.4-fold and 13.3% to USD 16,093,000 and USD 45,751,000.

Azerbaijan's exports to Uzbekistan constituted 0.12% of total exports, while imports from this country - 0.03% of total imports.

Azerbaijan tripled exports to Hungary

From January through August 2021, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Hungary totaled USD 26,654,000, up 0.37% from a year earlier.

Exports to Hungary rose by 3.4-fold to USD 1,315,000, while the imports from the observer state fell by 3.19% to USD 25,340,000.

Share of export operations in Azerbaijan total exports accounted for 0.1%, import operations – for 0.34% of total imports.

The decision to establish the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (Turkic Council) was made at the 10th "Summit of the Heads of the Turkic Speaking States" held in Istanbul in 2010. The Business Council of Turkic-Speaking States was established in 2011. Azerbaijan is represented by the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers) Organizations in Business Council.

Member states are Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and the observer state is Hungary. The primary objective of the Council is to create a new common-Turkic union for strengthening nations' union speaking the same language and living in similar conditions, enlarging social and economic relations.

The meetings of the Working Group on the economy of Turkic Council and the meetings of economy ministers of the member states are held once a year, respectively. The suggestions to improve the economic relations among the member states and the problems faced by the countries in the economic sphere are discussed in the meetings. Meetings in 2012 and 2016 were held in Azerbaijan.

Negotiations are underway on the establishment of a Turkic Investment Fund within the Turkic Council. The 10th meeting of the Ministers of Economy and the 12th meeting of the working group on economics of the Turkic Council were held on September 9-11, 2021, in Baku.