The 19th meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan was held

The 19th Meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Kazakhstan was held in Baku.

Before the meeting, a bilateral meeting was held between the Co - Chairs of the Commission, Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Parviz Shahbazov and Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan - Minister of Trade and Integration Serik Zhumangarin. The sides exchanged views on the current status of cooperation and new cooperation opportunities between the two countries.

At the meeting of the commission, the steps taken in the direction of strengthening the high-level political relations between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan with the development of commercial and economic partnership were evaluated. Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov said that thanks to the political will of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev and the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Mr. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the relations between the two countries are developing successfully. The signing of the Declaration on strengthening strategic relations and deepening allied interaction between the two countries is a vivid manifestation of this. 

It was noted that compared to 2021, the volume of mutual trade turnover in 2022 increased 4.4 times and amounted to 598 million 400 thousand USD. It was expressed confidence that these indicators will increase even more with the implementation of the complex program on the development of cooperation for 2022-2026.

Speaking about the development of cooperation in the field of energy, the Minister said: “The 5-years contract signed between SOCAR and KazMunayGas last year for the transportation of 1.5 million tons of Kazakh oil per year is an important progress in our energy cooperation. In March this year, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline started transporting oil extracted from the Tengiz field of Kazakhstan. In April, it is planned to transport 125 thousand tons of Kazakh oil through BTC”.

At the meeting, it was emphasized that both countries are making serious efforts in the field of transition to green energy and expressed their intention to cooperate with Kazakhstan `s companies in such areas as renewable energy and energy efficiency. They also talked about the importance of joint activities for the development of transport and logistics relations, increasing the transit potential of our countries in order to flow cargo from China, Central Asian countries to Europe and in the opposite direction.

Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Minister of Trade and Integration Serik Zhumangarin said in his speech: “Azerbaijan is Kazakhstan's main and promising trade and economic partner in the South Caucasus. Today, at the meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation between our countries, we present the export opportunities of Kazakhstan`s railway machinery. In addition, we are working to supply more than 304 types of non-raw materials from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan in the amount of more than 100 million USD. Our countries have great potential for expanding cooperation in the fields of energy, transport, trade in agricultural goods. We aim to establish mutually beneficial and effective cooperation in numerous possible areas and are always open to new proposals.”

At the meeting, the work done since the 18th Meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission was reviewed, discussions were held on cooperation in political, trade and economic, energy, transport and logistics, agriculture, information and communication technologies, media and other areas.

At the end, a protocol was signed on the outcomes of the 19th meeting of the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan Joint Intergovernmental Commission. It was agreed that the 20th meeting of the commission will be held next year in Kazakhstan.