Baku hosts 5th EU-Azerbaijan Business Forum

Baku, June 13, AZERTAC

The 5th EU-Azerbaijan Business Forum kicked off in Baku. Organized by the EU Delegation in cooperation with the German-Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce (AHK) and the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO), the EU-Azerbaijan Business Forum brings together hundreds of business and government leaders from the EU and Azerbaijan, who share the goal of strengthening business relations.

In his keynote speech, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Economy Shahin Mustafayev stressed that EU-Azerbaijan business forum plays an important role as a platform for discussing prospects for economic cooperation as well as mutual trade and investment opportunities between Azerbaijan and the EU.

Minister Mustafayev emphasized that trade is one of the key priorities in bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EU, adding that Azerbaijan is the EU’s main trade partner in the South Caucasus. Underlining that Azerbaijan is also one of the key energy partners of the EU, the minister said that the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) will contribute to the expansion of cooperation in this area.

EU Commissioner for the European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn highlighted works done under the Eastern Partnership Initiative over the past 10 years. He hailed the successful development of economic cooperation with the Eastern Partnership countries.

Describing Azerbaijan as an important and reliable trade partner of the European Union, the Commissioner shared his views on prospects for further expansion of relations between Azerbaijan and the EU.

Head of Market Analysis and Communication of the AHK Azerbaijan Nigar Bayramli presented the 2019 edition of the EU Business Climate Report Azerbaijan, the document which assesses the current conditions for doing business in Azerbaijan, highlighting key reform achievements and remaining bottlenecks.

Other speakers at the event, Minister of Taxes Mikayil Jabbarov, Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Committee Ismayil Huseynov, Deputy Minister of Education Idris Isayev and Deputy Minister of Justice Togrul Musayev shared their views on the issues reflected in the report. The Forum continued with panel sessions.