Today, Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov participated as a guest in a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in the city of Cholpon-Ata of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Prime Minister Ali Asadov said that Azerbaijan has close bilateral relations and economic ties with almost all member countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
It was noted that these relations are based on the principles of mutual respect for territorial integrity, national sovereignty and consideration of each other's interests.
According to the Prime Minister, cooperation based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and consideration of each other's interests is the key to long-term peace, stability and sustainable development.
It was stressed that Azerbaijan pursues a strategic course aimed at ensuring cooperation, peace and building a sustainable security system on a regional and global scale. "In this context, we promote peace and dialogue, and make a valuable contribution to the development of cooperation in the Eurasian region," the prime minister said.
He added that, being at the junction of Europe and Asia, Azerbaijan, together with its partners in the region, is involved in a whole complex of initiatives and projects aimed at developing transport communications, strengthening regional and continental trade.
Drawing attention of the meeting participants to the development indicators of Azerbaijan, Asadov said that despite the negative trends in the global economy, the country has recorded good economic growth rates for six months of 2022. Thus, in the first six months of this year the economic growth was 6.2%. Non-oil economy grew by 9.6 percent. Foreign trade has grown considerably – by more than 70 percent. The export of Azerbaijani goods has more than doubled, while non-oil export has grown by 25 percent.
It was noted that Azerbaijan has invested and continues to invest in the modernization of transport infrastructure for the implementation of projects to create international transport and logistics corridors.
It was stressed that Azerbaijan is an important link in a number of projects, such as international transport corridors North-South and East-West, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and others.
"We observe annual growth of cargo transportation through the territory of our country on various routes. Only for 6 months of the current year, the volume of transit traffic through various corridors has grown by more than 50 percent. The volumes of transit cargo going through the new international sea trade port of Alyat on the Caspian Sea are increasing. The port's infrastructure can handle up to 15 million tons, including 100,000 TEU containers a year. Nevertheless, the growth of cargo flow and the related forecasts require increasing its throughput capacity. Given this, we have laid the second phase of expansion of transshipment capacity of the port up to 25 million tons of cargo and 500,000 TEU containers," the Prime Minister said.
It was brought to attention that Azerbaijan is ready to continue creating all conditions for the EAEU partners to use the transit potential of the country.
It was expressed confidence that cooperation within the framework of transport projects connecting countries and continents will contribute to a stable, prosperous, dignified and predictable future across the Eurasian space.
"This thesis is reinforced by the new realities that have emerged in the region, which create good opportunities for unblocking transport communications, as well as opening new transport and trade routes," added the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan.