Part 1: http://www.vestikavkaza.ru/analytics/ekonomika/36965.html
IInteraction in transport and communication spheres.
The most important areas of transport co-operation between Russia and Azerbaijan are:
- the creation of ferry links between Baku and Astrakhan;
- reconstruction of highways in Dagestan;
- increasing of the number of Russian and Azerbaijani cities with direct plane links;
- Russian support of Azerbaijani-Iranian unified ‘North-South’ railroad project, also creating a means of Russian-Irani railroad links.
Another question is transit of Caspian countries’ cargo ships via Russian inland waters. Today the regulations permit Azerbaijan to execute 30 naval transits from the Caspian to the Azov Sea per year. The main peculiarity of this regime is that one vessel can cross over from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea and back only once. The cost of one passage through the channel for Azerbaijani vessels is 20,000-25,000 rubles while for Russian it’s only 5,000-6,000 rubles.
The volume of water-transported is progressively restoring but it hasn’t still reached the level recorded in the Soviet Union. Grain, wood, sand and gravel are the main goods transported from Azerbaijan and Volga-Don canal is the fastest and the cheapest means for such transportation.
The development of joint transport projects should help Russia and Azerbaijan to gain access to the markets of other countries and to strengthen the competition capabilities of state and private companies.
Joint innovative projects.
Azerbaijan has reached certain progress in the field of high technologies with the help of the world’s leading electronic companies: in 2003 Azerbaijani ‘Ultra’ enterprise launched laptop ‘Nexus’ production. ‘Nexus’ production? Now including computers, monitors, television sets and USB flash drives are exported to Russia, Turkey, Georgia, Central Asian countries.
There exists a variety of directions in which Russia and Azerbaijan could aim their joint efforts; however, presently the level of Russian-Azeri scientific cooperation is regrettably low.
Azerbaijani Oil and chemistry Institute has achieved considerable progress in nano-technology study, proving that Russia could benefit from information exchange in this field.
The progress in space-craft industry is also worth mentioning: Azerbaijan managed to elaborate first national communications satellite ‘AzerSpace’ project in 2009. American company won the tender for the satellite’s construction. The launch is planned for the end of 2012. Orbital position for the satellite is provided by a Malaysian company.
It is obvious that Russia should also participate in Azeri space program.
The information and communication sector income growth is 25-35% per year since 2007, being the most active center of Azerbaijani industry after oil and gas production. Russia could benefit from trading its information technologies, GLONASS included, with Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, the two countries’ cooperation in this field is also less broad and systematic that it could be.
Russia and Azerbaijan face the same problems in their attempts to develop innovative economy systems. Financing systems are organized irrationally, the high-tech products do not always meet international standards, the scientists who work out new products are not familiar with real market demands. Russian-Azeri cooperation in the high-tech field might prove helpful for solving common problems.
Energetic cooperation.
Russian-Azeri cooperation includes a whole complex of industry branches, from oil and gas transportation to energy trade.
Russian ‘Gazprom’ and Azeri SOCAR signed an agreement on new terms of Azerbaijani gas trade on June, 29, 2009. The agreement stipulates shipments of 500 million cubic meters of gas per year from 2010 to 2015. According to the agreement, the quantity of gas delivered per year could be increased up to 3 billion cubic meters.
0.8 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas has been delivered to Russia in 2010. An agreement was reached to rise this figure up to 2 billion cubic meters in 2011.
The governments of the two countries are working on a general state treaty that would regulate all the spheres of Russian-Azeri energetic cooperation.
The issue of transit routes diversification also seems to be vital. In this frames the ‘Baku-Novorossiysk’ pipeline exploitation treaty is very important. The agreement reached in 1996 is obviously out of date now. However, a new treaty hasn’t been elaborated yet.
The electric power trade between Russia and Azerbaijan is based on two main treaties: the treaty on energy supplies in emergency situation and the electric power purchase contract. In 2010 Russia has exported 17.8 million kilowatt-hour, while Azerbaijan exported 202.6 million kilowatt-hour of electric power to Russia.
This field of cooperation has a great potential yet to be discovered. A treaty on parallel operation of the two countries’ electric power systems is due to be signed before May, 31.
Also, Russian ‘LUKoil’ plays a very active role on Azerbaijani energy market, owing 10% share of Shah-Deniz gas field project.
Ilgar Guseinov, Alexei Vlasov, Gulnara Mammedzade, Ismail Agakishiyev, Seimur Aliyev, Alexander Karavaev, Vagif Sharifov, Yugeny Krishtalev, Ilgar Velizade. Moscow-Baku.
