"US among top ten countries making the highest amount of investment in Azerbaijan" - INTERVIEW

Azerbaijan is the biggest trade partner of the US in the South Caucasus, and the two countries realize megaprojects. The US-Azerbaijan cooperation in many fields, including energy, have a successful history. The United States – Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (USACC) implements many joint projects. The headquarters of the Chamber is in Washington. Report presents the interview with the USACC executive director Natig Bakhishov.

- We would like you to give information about how the Chamber contributes to the development of US-Azerbaijan economic relations. Which projects have you successfully implemented so far?

- As you know, the USACC was established in 1995 to promote trade and business links, as well as mutual capital investment between the two countries. The Chamber marks the 25th anniversary this year. We can proudly say that the Chamber has, so far, played a significant role in the extension of trade links between the US and Azerbaijan, as well as providing of US support to a number of regional projects such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipelines. We have implemented very successful and useful projects since the USACC was established.

The Chamber promotes links between the officials, business circles of the two countries by organizing conferences, and mutual trade missions. Since 2006, we have carried out 8 trade missions, 2 of which were certificated by the US Department of Commerce. As a result of these projects realized in Azerbaijan, several US companies entered the Azerbaijani market for the first time. Even some of them extended their activity in the market. For instance, as a result of a trade mission organized in 2017, the business circles of the two countries signed agreements worth more than $5 million.

The USACC places emphasis on the establishment of direct trade links between Azerbaijan and individual states of the US to extend the relations between the two countries. For this purpose, the USACC is exploring business and trade opportunities in the States of the US and organizes trade missions from Azerbaijan to the US. For example, two forums of agriculture were held between Azerbaijan and Illinois and Oklahoma states in April and November 2019.

Azerbaijan's trade mission, which included businessmen from nearly 30 agrarian sectors and was led by Mınister of Agriculture Inam Karimov, visited the US to participate in the forums. The US and Azerbaijani businesses signed agreements worth $1 million as a result of these visits.

At the same time, the USACC attaches importance to the extension of the partnership network for the promotion of economic relations between the two countries. The USACC and USAID Mission in Azerbaijan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the promotion of business and trade between the two countries. Thus, the sides agreed to implement joint projects on the organization of technical assistance and training in agriculture, as well as the promotion of the cooperation between the state and private sectors. Azerbaijan-Illinois Agricultural Forum and Azerbaijan-Oklahoma Agricultural Forum were organized within the framework document signed between the USACC and USAID Mission in Azerbaijan.

- What actual projects is the Chamber carrying out currently?

- the USACC projects are primarily divided into two groups: 1) projects promoting business and trade, as well as cooperation in education between the two countries; 2) social projects – which are implemented via The Azerbaijan Trade and Cultural Center (ATCC) under the USACC.

The ATCC was established upon the decision of the USACC in 2000 to carry out the cultural exchange between the peoples of the two countries, as well as projects regarding the Azerbaijani community in the US. The ATCC operates two exhibition halls in Georgetown, Washington. According to a document signed between USACC and Azerkhalcha OJSC in November 2019, the ATCC will host an exhibition of Azerbaijani carpets for one year. We have brought 55 carpets from Azerbaijan. They are currently being demonstrated in the exhibition halls. We have plans to organize exhibitions of Azerbaijani painters.

I'd like to speak about the projects currently being implemented by USACC. One of them serves the establishment and extension of trade and business links between Azerbaijan's agrarian sector and the bUS leading agricultural states. For this purpose, Azerbaijani delegation visited Illinois and Oklahoma states to attend the forums in 2019, held meetings with different business circles, got familiarized with the production fields.

At the same time, we had a plan to establish cooperation with the State of Washington on fruit-growing and the State of Maine on the fishery. Both projects were postponed for an indefinite period due to the global pandemic. We'll start to implement the project once there is a favorable condition.

Along with this, we had intended to organize the next trade mission, which comprised US companies and was certified by the US Department of Commerce, to Azerbaijan and Georgia. This project was also postponed for an indefinite period due to the pandemic.

Within the USACC and USAID in Azerbaijan, a dual-degree program is being developed between Azerbaijan State Agrarian University and Oklahoma State University. The framework document between the two universities was signed at Oklahoma-Azerbaijan Agricultural Forum held on November 6, 2019.

- How does the USACC operate due to the pandemic? How are you implementing the existing projects?

- As is known, no mutual visits are paid because of the global pandemic. However, USACC regularly organizes online meetings between the Azerbaijani state and private sectors and the US representatives.

In recent days, we organized a web-conference, in which Chairman of Agrarian Credit and development Agency Natig Aliyev participated as a speaker. The conference was attended by several Azerbaijani and US businessmen, representatives of the state bodies, as well as the US Commercial Service and the US Small Business Administration.

At the same time, in April, we organized a web-conference "Azerbaijan's economy amid global pandemic: reforms and post-pandemic outlook." The speakers were Deputy Minister of Economy Rovshan Najaf, Acting President of AZPROMO Yusif Abdullayev, and Deputy Chairman of Small and Medium Business Development Agency Rufat Atakishiyev. Nearly 90 participants, including representatives of US businesses in the region, US Department of State, Department of Commerce, and embassies of both countries, joined the meeting. We try to control the situation by realizing such projects.

We are planning to hold a web-conference with Taleh Ziyadov, Director-General of Baku International Sea Trade Port, on regional transportations and Azerbaijan's role on June 1. The USACC has implemented numerous social projects via ATCC. I think the most important among them is the education of Azerbaijani language in the US. In order to teach Azerbaijani language to our very young compatriots in the US, the USACC, jointly with the Azerbaijani Embassy in the US, is implementing the "Azerbaijani School in Washington" project. Nearly 30 Azerbaijani children are taught in Azerbaijani language at the school and get information about Azerbaijan's culture and history.

Currently, the ATCC is carrying out the "Saturday Talks" project to introduce Azerbaijani well-known scientific and cultural figures to the Azerbaijani community living in the US. To date, the guests of the program have been People's Poet Ramiz Rovshan, People's Writer Chingiz Abdullayev, Champion of the 21st Century, Honored Artist Bahram Bagirzade and the prominent pianist, the rector of the Baku Music Academy named after U.Hajicıbeyli, the People's Artist, professor Farhad Badalbeyli. We'll continue to introduce our prominent peoples within this project.

Another significant project is a "Farm of Knowledge" to promote agrarian business among the final graders of secondary school and freshmen. The project aims to organize training in one of the agricultural reserves of the State of Maryland for Azerbaijani and US students.

- A post-oil period is about to start in Azerbaijan. How could the US provide support to the development of the non-oil sector?

- US-Azerbaijan cooperation in the non-oil sector has always been one of the priorities for the USACC. As I mentioned, we have organized trade missions between the two countries on high technologies, tourism, and agriculture. For instance, the Trade Mission on High Technologies, organized on December 4, 2013, was one of the successful projects.

For the present, the USACC, jointly with a number of partner companies, including AZPROMO, is conducting discussions on initial projects on systematical introduction of Azerbaijani products to the US market. We expect these discussions to be strengthened with multilateral documents and Azerbaijan's competitive products to enter the US market.

Moreover, certain works are being carried out with several US partner companies to increase the competitiveness in Azerbaijan's agriculture and food processing areas. On May 17, 2019, USACC, the Food Safety Institute under the Azerbaijan Food Safety, and the University of Maryland, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish scientific and academic cooperation and organize information exchange.

- What can you say about mutual investments, number, and spheres of companies between the two countries?

- With $13.6 billion, the US is among the top ten countries making the highest amount of investment in Azerbaijan. Although a significant part of these investments has been made in the oil sector, the share of the US companies in Azerbaijan's non-oil sector is increasing.

SOFAZ investment of more than $6 billion in the US markets contributed to the mutual investments. Currently, 234 Us companies operate in Azerbaijan. They are mainly engaged in oil and related fields. However, there are great opportunities for cooperation in agriculture, fishery, alternative energy, logistics, value-added-services during transit transportations, tourism, science, and education. We think that the representatives of both state and private sector should hold meetings and pay visits to reveal and realize these opportunities. We have many plans and hope all these plans will be realized successfully.

Vusala Abbasova