Business news

MINSK, 12 April (BelTA) – Belarus and Azerbaijan will consider assembling lifts and sales of Belarusian electric buses, the press service of the Belarusian government told BelTA after Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko visited Azerbaijan.

A meeting with Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Artur Rasizade took place on 3 April. A large number of matters concerning the production sector, agriculture, pharmaceutics, transport, and the expansion of the mutual trade in food were discussed during the meeting. The sides reached agreements on considering new promising bilateral cooperation projects for the sake of increasing Belarus-Azerbaijan trade.

Assembling more MAZ vehicles at Ganja Automobile Plant was discussed, including using the enterprise to start assembling MAZ buses. It was noted that there is a lot of promise in selling Gomselmash agricultural machines to Azerbaijani farmers and the possible consequent assembly of agricultural machines in Ganja or Sumqayit.

The sides agreed they would work on promising projects to start assembling Belarusian lifts and diesel generators and sell electric buses to Azerbaijan.

Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko met with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev on 2 April. Topical aspects of Belarus-Azerbaijan cooperation were discussed. The Azerbaijan president mentioned the positive contribution of the Belarusian tractor industry and the mechanical engineering industry to the country’s economy, the creation of new jobs, and the penetration of third-country markets with Belarusian-Azerbaijani products. Ilham Aliyev mentioned the development of agribusiness and the revival of highly-sought industrial enterprises as high priorities. The organization of assembling of Belarusian tractors at Ganja Automobile Plant was mentioned as a positive example of bilateral cooperation.

The Belarusian delegation visited Ganja Automobile Plant to celebrate the assembly of the 10,000^th MTZ tractor. Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko met with executives and specialists of the enterprise. The development of the company was discussed as well as increasing the output and pushing joint products to third-country markets. During the visit the Belarusian tractor maker MTZ and the Belarusian automobile manufacturer MAZ signed contracts with Ganja Automobile Plant on supplying 500 tractors and 50 automobiles respectively. The total sum of the two contracts is close to $10.5 million.

In 2017 Belarus-Azerbaijan trade totaled $160.7 million, 6.4% down from 2016. Belarus’ export reached $150.5 million, 11.1% up, with import at $10.3 million, 71.7% down. Belarus secured a foreign trade surplus of $140.2 million. In 2017 Belarus’ main exports to Azerbaijan included tractors and prime movers, food (sugar, milk and cream, cheese and quark cheese, sausages, butter), woodworking products, medications, oil products, components for transmitters and receivers, computers for automatic data processing. Belarus’ main imports from Azerbaijan included petrochemical products, rolled aluminum products, food (nuts, distilled spirits, fruit and vegetable juices, organic grape wines, fruits), bed linen, terry cloth, and clay.

In 2017 Azerbaijan invested $11.3 million in the Belarusian economy, up from $7.4 million in 2016, with foreign direct investments at $10.7 million (157.4%). Three investment projects are being implemented in Belarus using Azerbaijani capital. About $36 million has been raised by these projects. There are 58 companies with a share of Azerbaijani capital in Belarus, including 17 joint ventures and 41 foreign-owned companies.