Kazakhstan’s Mangistau region has offered to increase supplies of consumer goods to Azerbaijan.
The offer was made by the head of the region Nurdaulet Kilybay during a meeting with Azerbaijan’s Consul General in Aktau Elchin Mammadov, Trend reports.
“I would like to offer options for cooperation. I think we should not wait for official high-level meetings, we should implement joint projects and develop bilateral relations by mutual consent. As it is known, there are very few fruit and vegetable products in the Mangistau region and they are mostly imported from other countries. In this regard, I would like to suggest the companies of the Republic of Azerbaijan to consider the possibility of increasing the supply of food consumer goods, including fruit and construction materials. It is also necessary to strengthen tourism interaction between the regions of Azerbaijan and the Mangistau region.”
Elchin Mammadov, in turn, noted that the relations between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are at a high level and the Consulate General is very interested in the implementation of joint projects that will strengthen the fraternal ties between the peoples.
“Mangistau region is of great importance for our country. The state maritime companies of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have jointly increased the number of vessels designed for cargo transport. We believe that the exchange of construction materials, textiles, agricultural products, as well as food products produced in our countries, mutual investments, joint production can have a great impact on increasing trade turnover. There are favourable opportunities for the expansion of tourism partnership between the two countries. I would like to note that Aktau will be declared the capital of the Turkic world in 2025. Numerous events and official visits of delegations of Turkic-speaking countries are planned. This will allow us to continue our close cooperation,’ he said.
It is worth noting that the volume of trade between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan reached $ 529.4 million in 2023. The volume of trade increased by 14.2 per cent compared to 2022 ($463.3 million).
In the structure of trade turnover, exports to Azerbaijan during this period amounted to $ 456.3 million, which is 21.6 per cent higher than in January-December 2022.
Imports from Azerbaijan in January-December 2023 decreased by 17.3 per cent to $73 million. In 2022, imports totalled 88.3 million dollars.