Anar Imanov: Azerbaijan, Vietnam can expand trade and mutual investment

Cooperation in the field of logistics and transport may be one of the key areas of future cooperation between Azerbaijan and Vietnam, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Vietnam Anar Imanov said in an interview with Vietnam Economic Times, Report informs.

"Azerbaijan has built a major port on the Caspian Sea to receive goods from Asia to be sent to Europe and vice versa. We want to work more closely with Vietnamese partners to improve relations between ports. I think this is important for future cooperation," the ambassador said.

Logistics means international transportation, and not only from Vietnam to Azerbaijan and back. Vietnam's export turnover to Europe is approaching $60 billion, Anar Imanov said. According to him, there is a large volume of goods exported from Vietnam to Europe. Before the pandemic, shipping one container from Asia to Europe cost between $2,000 and $3,000. Now the cost is from 13,000 to 14,000 dollars.

"Therefore, of course, Vietnamese companies are interested in finding a way to reduce transportation costs, and find a way to transport their goods faster. I believe that Azerbaijan can provide Vietnam with solutions to reduce transportation costs and send Vietnamese goods to Europe faster, especially when transported door-to-door by train. Goods must be sent from Vietnam by train to China and on to Kazakhstan, and then to Azerbaijan, Turkey and, finally, to Europe," the ambassador said.

It is important that Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, and Kazakhstan recently signed a declaration on the Trans-Caspian East-West transport corridor, Imanov said. The idea behind the project is to simplify customs procedures to allow countries like China and Vietnam to speed up the transportation of their goods at a lower cost, he said.

"I think the declaration between the four countries has opened up a new opportunity for Vietnamese exporters to send goods to Europe. I hope that Vietnamese companies will be interested in this and the Azerbaijani embassy will be happy to help them enter into detailed discussions with Azerbaijani partners so that they can find a new route for faster delivery of their goods to Europe," the diplomat said.