12:37 - 4.03.2019

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March 4, Fineko/abc.az. Today, Baku is hosting the 5th meeting of the joint commission between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia.

Both co-chairs of the Commission, Finance Minister Samir Sharifov of Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia General Investment Fund’s head Ibrahim bin Abdulrahman al-Omar, stated that the level of bilateral trade and economic cooperation does not reflect the existing potential.

"The level of economic cooperation does not correspond to the level of political cooperation and the main goal of the Commission is to bring relationships to the required level. Two countries’ trade turnover is small and we want to increase it, taking into account the existing potential, given the growth and stability of the economy of Azerbaijan in the last 15 years," Minister Sharifov said.

He added that good tourist relations have been organized between the two countries. The flow of tourists to Azerbaijan from Saudi Arabia amounted to 7,463 people in 2016, 33,273 people in 2017 and 73,000 in 2018 (growth:  10-fold).

"Tourists come to Azerbaijan mainly in the summer. In order to ensure the flow of tourists in the winter season, it is necessary to organize and increase the number of flights in the winter period that will also affect the development of winter tourism in Azerbaijan and promote to development of relations in business," the minister said.

Commission’s co-chair on the Arab side stated that the trade turnover between both states in 2018 did not exceed $20 million and this figure does not correspond to the plans of ambitious development of cooperation.

"To bring economic cooperation up to a higher level, first of all, it is necessary to develop and apply a mechanism for the implementation of cooperation expansion programs, implement cooperation in the customs sphere, create a single platform to expand investment and trade opportunities and develop a roadmap for coordination between business and government agencies to promote trade and investments," the co-chair said.