Selcuk Akat: Azerbaijan may join Europe’s supply chain thanks to BTK railway

“Bilateral cooperation attaches strategic importance in bilateral trade links between Turkey and Azerbaijan. We have to create new synergy using the opportunities that will arise after coronavirus pandemic,” Selcuk Akat, chairman of the DEIK Turkey-Azerbaijan Business Council, told Anadolu Agency.

According to him, despite restrictions on travels due to the pandemic, the mutual relations between the two countries did not suspend, on the contrary, improved via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway: “It proved once again the importance of the BTK, which is a joint strategy of Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Recently, a 940-meter train consisting of 82 containers departed from Kars to transport Turkey’s product to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. So, it has become a transit route for Azerbaijani and Turkish exporters.”

Expressing that the trade links between the two countries during the pandemic did not stop, Akat said: “In the first quarter of 2020, Turkey’s export to Azerbaijan increased by 15.3% to $566 billion. During this period, the exported products included materials for the production of the medical mask, textile, and respiratory. It shows how the brotherhood relations between the two countries are strong.”

“Currently, 2,467 Azerbaijani companies invested $6.9 billion in Turkey, while 3,400 Turkish companies made an investment worth $6.6 billion in Azerbaijan,” he said.

He noted that Turkey and Azerbaijan, jointly with Georgia, implemented strategic projects such as BTC, BTK, TANAP, STAR Refinery after Azerbaijan gained independence. Akat said that two states, one nation turned into one economy: “We should bring up a neü strategic project that üill strengthen the links between the two countries. I propose two notions related to supply chains after the pandemic: Reshoring and Nearshoring. That’s European economies want to meet their supply from inside or near Europe.

The BTK, which connects the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, made Azerbaijan closer to Europe through Turkey. Thus, we can work to add Azerbaijan to Europe’s supply chain using the railway. Azerbaijan can get new economic development opportunities with its “Made in Azerbaijan” program and productions in 7 different unique industrial and technoparks.”