VTB Bank ready to increase support for Russian exports to Azerbaijan

VTB Bank Azerbaijan, a subsidiary of Russia’s VTB Bank, plans to expand cooperation with the Russian Export Center (REC) JSC in 2020 in order to support Russian exports to Azerbaijan, according to an official of VTB Bank Azerbaijan.

“The REC has great potential and enhancing cooperation will help strengthen economic relations between Azerbaijan and Russia,” Yevgeniy Kirin, chairman of the Management Board of VTB Bank Azerbaijan, said at a press conference in Baku.

“We want to become the main partner of the REC in Azerbaijan,” he noted. “In addition, there is a political decision to bring trade between the countries to $3 billion.”

Kirin added that the limit of cooperation between VTB Bank Azerbaijan and the REC is $2.5 million per year. “We seek a multifold increase in this limit,” he stressed.

As part of the support of Russian exports to Azerbaijan in 2019, REC held a number of business missions for Russian enterprises. In particular, it organized a visit by industrial enterprises, a business mission within the International Caspian Oil & Gas Exhibition, Azerbaijan International Food Industry Exhibition in the format of Russian Gastro Week, as well as missions from Russian regions.

“These events helped identify new areas of active interaction between Russian and Azerbaijani businesses, in particular, areas of the IT industry and new technologies, on which a number of promising projects have been already outlined,” a source in REC office told Report earlier.