Russian and Azerbaijani governments discuss revival of Karabakh

Russian companies presented 13 packages of proposals to Azerbaijan for participation in works in Karabakh, Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Shahin Mustafayev said at the conference "Current state and prospects of Russian-Azerbaijani relations in the context of integrated processes" in Baku.

According to Mustafayev, KAMAZ PTC has already demonstrated a vivid example of the implementation of a Russian project in Karabakh.

"Our region, like other regions, has faced a number of problems, including an armed conflict, a COVID-19 pandemic, an energy crisis, and today we have new realities. Our cooperation with Russia is developing in all directions, we have developed cooperation even in the face of a pandemic," he said.

"Today we have seven roadmaps for cooperation. Successful cooperation is underway on all roadmaps, and we are achieving our goals. Last year, trade fell slightly, and I hope that next year we will reach pre-pandemic levels. We expect the growth rate to pick up even more. There is a good prospect for building up mutual investments. Russian investments in Azerbaijan amounted to $6 billion, of which $4.5 billion are direct investments," Mustafayev added.

The deputy prime minister also noted that, currently, a number of investment projects are being implemented, and new opportunities are opening up.

Azerbaijan will develop another roadmap for control of border checkpoints, Mustafayev said. "We are constantly improving the roads and railways of our country. It's planned to create another roadmap to control the checkpoints," Mustafayev noted.

Besides, according to him, cooperation in the transport sector is developing between Azerbaijan and Russia. "One of the important projects is the [transport corridor] North-South. Cargoes from Russia pass through Azerbaijan in several directions. Through the important Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project, Russian cargoes are transported through Georgia and Azerbaijan to Turkey," the official added.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, in turn, said active work is underway to unblock transport communications in the South Caucasus.

“ADA University is a place where one would like to talk about the prospects of Russian-Azerbaijani relations in the context of the integration of economic processes. Active work is underway to unblock transport communications, as well as on a mutual visit. We would like to talk about the potential that the integration processes that are taking place in Eurasia carry,” Overchuk said.

“Speaking about international relations, we mean a macroregion. We see what processes are going on in North America, Southeast Asia, we follow the processes of implementing the Chinese initiative One Belt - One Road. In fact, little is said about integration into the Eurasian economic zone. Now we need to develop and do everything possible to strengthen regional relations. Strengthening relations according to the formula of individual countries led to the idea of ​​multi-level integration,” he said.

According to Overchuk, during the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union, a number of countries aimed at regional integration immediately joined this structure.

“We are moving along the path of economic integration. Today we see that the region is turning into a macroregion, a single cooperation in the production and delivery of goods is being established. Today we are working to create a space for working citizens and the transportation of goods. The aggregate GDP of the EAEU countries amounted to $1.3 trillion, trade between the member countries of the organization - $55 billion. There is outstripping growth in trade. From January through September, trade rose 32.7%. We reached the pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels and exceeded them by about 10%. In our internal borders, we actually abandoned all types of control, except for border control," Overchuk said.

Overchuk said Azerbaijan may discover absolutely new opportunities to connect markets of Asia and Europe. "We can work together here and achieve joint success. Russia's investments in Azerbaijan reached $4.5 billion, and Azerbaijan's investments in Russia - $1.5 billion. Russian business is interested in working in Azerbaijan and there are good prospects for the development and creation of railways, for development of renewable energy sources, high-tech enterprises, and logistics,” he noted.

“Now we have new opportunities to connect North-South and West-East. The entire EAEU region can benefit from this. Construction of new highways from the borders of Kazakhstan to the Baltic ports and Belarus is being conducted. One is in active construction stage, and another - Meridian - will pass from Kazakhstan to Belarus in the Gomel region. We are very serious about these projects to start working in the near future," added the official.