“Trade exchanges have seen good growth over the past year and there are no restrictions for the development of cooperation between the two countries as our officials are willing to do so,” said Reza Rahmani, Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade on Sunday in a meeting with Azerbaijan Economy Minister Shahiin Mustafayev.
Rahmani stressed that Tehran is ready to expand its ties with Azerbaijan through joint industrial projects. “The joint car-manufacturing project between both countries is a symbol of bilateral economic cooperation,” he mentioned.
Back in April Tehran and Baku signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly manufacture bus and lorries.
The joint venture is expected to produce 500 units of different buses in the first phase and 1,000 buses and trucks in the second phase using the Iranian and European Union equipment, according to the Azeri Economy Ministry. The total cost of the project is 10 million euros. In the first stage it is planned to invest 6 million euros and 4 million euros in the second stage.
He reiterated that signed MoUs on car-manufacturing, production of automobile spare parts, pharmaceuticals production and creation of joint industrial zone can be implemented very fast.
The Iranian minister called on the two countries' private sectors to help increase bilateral trade exchanges between Iran and Azerbaijan by identifying targeted export items.
Iran-Azerbaijan Joint Chamber of Commerce has opened a trade center for Iranian economic operators in Baku.
“Iran enjoys good geographical and trade position to connect the North-South Corridor and link Caspian Sea littoral states with Persian Gulf countries as well as with North Africa. We can activate this existing capacity so that both sides benefit from it,” he mentioned.
Iran sits at the heart of International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) that connects East to Central Asia and Europe.
Rahmani, who is visiting Azerbaijan, stressed that Iran has good capacities to produce pharmaceuticals that can be used to develop bilateral cooperation.
He went on to reiterate that Iran is ready to share its expertise with Azerbaijani economic operators.
Shahin Mustafayev, who was hosting the Iranian delegation, welcomed bilateral trade cooperation with Iran, saying that his country is prepared to implement all the joint projects very fast.
He encouraged the Iranian and Azerbaijani investors to inject money into industrial development of both countries, stressing that bilateral industrial cooperation has increased 34%.
"Bilateral cooperation is being developed very actively and trade exchanges have grown 74% while they have increased 2.2% during the fist six months of 2019,” Mustafayev added.
There are 1,371 Iranian industrial units in Azerbaijan, according to the Azeri minister.
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