Another Trade House may open in Ukraine
Ukrainian Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv visited Baku on October 19 for talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Shahin Mustafayev, within the joint business forum.
The minister was first received by President Ilham Aliyev and exchanged views on the current state of and prospects for Azerbaijan-Ukraine cooperation in economic and trade fields.
The main topics at the business forum held on October 20 were establishment of a joint venture as well as possible opening of a Trade House in Ukraine.
During the event the sides signed a memorandum between the Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC) and Ukraine’s Indar joint stock company, on establishment of a joint pharmaceutical enterprise for the production of infusion and injection solutions.
The construction of the enterprise will begin in 2018 at Azerbaijan’s Pirallakhi industrial park, which residents have already become the Azerbaijan-Russian pharmaceutical joint venture, Hayat Pharm (with $74 million investment) and Azerbaijan-Iran Caspian Pharmed (about $21 million).
The cost of the project is $17 million and the construction expected to last two years. Around 350 jobs will be created at the enterprise.
Speaking at the forum Mustafayev said that Azerbaijan’s Trade House may open in Ukraine by the end of 2017.
“The trading house has already passed the state registration in Ukraine and site is being selected now,” he said.“I believe it will start operating by the end of 2017 or early 2018.”
Azerbaijan has a trading house in Belarus, and currently opening of Trade Houses is a priority for Azerbaijan.
Today, Azerbaijan is one of the main trade partners of Ukraine among the CIS countries. The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Ukraine amounted to $483.2 million in January-September 2017, which is 2.1 times more compared to the same period of 2016.
Moreover, the export of Azerbaijani products to Ukraine increased by 5.1 times - from $32.94 million to $166.9 million, while imports of Ukrainian products to Azerbaijan increased by 59.2 percent (from $198.74 million to $316.3 million).
Talking about investments between the two countries, Mustafayev said that Ukraine’s direct investments in Azerbaijan amounted to $25 million, while Azerbaijan's investments in Ukraine constituted around $200 million.
“In particular, Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, having 60 filling stations in the country, is actively operating in the Ukrainian market,” he said.
The minister also highlighted the relations between the two countries in cargo transportation, noting that Azerbaijan has already turned into a transit country and Ukraine also uses the transit potential of Azerbaijan.
“The cargo transportation by railway increased by 2.4 times, while cargo transportation by vehicles - by 3.1 times in January-September 2017 as compared to the same period of 2016," he said.
Mustafayev further invited Ukrainian companies to invest in various spheres of Azerbaijani economy, in particular, in industrial and agricultural parks.
"There is a great potential between our countries in developing relations and establishing joint ventures in tourism sector, processing industry, pharmaceutics and agriculture," the minister said.
Kubiv, for his part, also invited Azerbaijani investors to take part in the privatization of state property.
He said that 3,444 state enterprises, operating in industry, agriculture, machine building, chemical sector, energy sector, as well as other sectors, are planned to be involved in the privatization process.
"We are looking forward to the participation of Azerbaijani companies in the privatization of Ukrainian state enterprises," he said.“A new law on privatization is expected to be adopted by late 2017.”
The Ukrainian minister also announced the date of the next meeting of Azerbaijan-Ukraine intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, which is scheduled for November 13-17.
“We, together with Azerbaijan’s Economy Ministry, have already outlined issues to be discussed at the intergovernmental commission's meeting,” Kubiv said.
Kubiv also noted that work is underway to prepare the first meeting of Azerbaijan-Ukraine intergovernmental commission on tourism.
“In addition, we are preparing for the sixth meeting of presidents of Azerbaijan and Ukraine, Ilham Aliyev and Petro Poroshenko,” he added.
Currently, Azerbaijan accommodates 116 companies with Ukrainian capital.