Ömer Bolat: Investors who trust the economies of Turkey and Azerbaijan will be more than rewarded for their confidence

Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat continues his contacts in Azerbaijan. Bolat attended the opening program of the "Azerbaijan-Turkey Investment Forum," which was held in the capital Baku under the joint organization of the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Agency (AZPROMO) and the Turkey-Azerbaijan Businessmen and Industrialists Union (TÜİB).

In addition to Bolat, the forum was attended by numerous guests, including Azerbaijan's Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov, President of the Presidential Finance Office Prof. Dr. Göksel Aşan, TÜİB President Hüseyin Büyükfırat, AZPROMO President Yusif Abdullayev, as well as Azerbaijani and Turkish businessmen, investors, and bureaucrats.

"It will create a synergy that will encourage the birth of new investments in both countries"

Speaking at the forum, Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat began his speech by commemorating the Azerbaijani soldiers who were martyred in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War and counter-terrorism operations. Bolat said, "It is the duty of all of us to turn Azerbaijan's victories on this front into concrete economic successes and to increase the prosperity of the Azerbaijani people and the Turkic World. The happiness and prosperity of the Azerbaijani people will be the most beautiful gift we can give to our martyrs and veterans. In this regard, this important investment forum, which has seen high-level participation from the public sector, private sector, non-governmental organizations, and our media, will create a synergy that will encourage the birth of new investments in both countries by enabling the exchange of views between stakeholders regarding investment."
Stating that the Turkish economy has continued to grow under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for 21 years, Bolat said, "The latest figures also show the scale of our country's economy and the strength of our economy. The Turkish economy, which grew by 11.4 percent in 2021 and 5.5 percent in 2022, managed to grow by 4 percent in the first quarter of 2023, 3.9 percent in the second quarter, and 5.9 percent in the third quarter."

"We will close this year with approximately 257 billion dollars"

Stating that the Turkish economy has shown uninterrupted growth for three years, Bolat said, "With these figures, our country ranks in the top 3 among OECD and G-20 countries. Our goods exports, which were 36 billion dollars in 2002, had increased 7-fold in the last 20 years to 254 billion dollars in 2022. Hopefully, we will close this year with approximately 257 billion dollars," he said.
Stating that this figure is the highest level reached in the history of the Republic of Turkey, Bolat said, "The year 2023 was a year of stagnation for the world economy. It was a year of decline for world trade. In this sense, the fact that both economic growth and Turkey's goods and services exports have continued to increase during such a challenging process demonstrates the strength and resilience of the Turkish economy."

Stating that the Turkish economy has managed to emerge stronger from the very significant whirlpools and troubles it has faced throughout history, Bolat said, "This situation shows that Turkey is the right destination for international investments as well. Similarly, the economy of our brother country Azerbaijan also managed to grow by 4.6 percent in 2022 according to World Bank data. It is clear that investors who trust the economies of Turkey and Azerbaijan will be more than rewarded for their confidence," he said.

"We will continue to stand by Azerbaijan with all our means"

Emphasizing that as Turkey, they stand by Azerbaijan under all circumstances, Bolat said, "We will continue to stand by our friendly and brotherly Azerbaijan with all our means in the coming period as well. We always feel that the state and people of Azerbaijan are also by our side. The people and state of Azerbaijan were the first to rush to Turkey's aid during the major earthquake disaster centered in Kahramanmaraş that we experienced on February 6. We are grateful to them, and the state and people of Azerbaijan have truly shown that they are a real friendly and brotherly country in this sense. May God be pleased with them," he said.

"We have the determination to increase our commercial and economic relations with Azerbaijan to a trade target of 15 billion dollars, an annual trade target, in line with the direction shown by both of our Presidents," said Bolat, adding, "We trust you, our valuable business people, in reaching our goal. As my teacher Göksel puts it, we as state officials open doors, remove obstacles, and sign agreements, but it is up to the business people to walk this path and increase trade and investments. At this point, we have infinite trust in both the business people in Azerbaijan and the business people coming from Turkey."

"We will reach a trade volume of over 7 billion dollars"

Reminding that the mutual trade volume between Turkey and Azerbaijan was 6.5 billion dollars in 2022, Bolat said, "Although global trade declined in 2023, thank God, it appears that there will be an increase of at least 10 percent in Turkey-Azerbaijan trade this year as well. In the first 11 months of data, we have already exceeded last year's figure of 6.5 billion dollars. We will reach a trade volume of over 7 billion dollars," he said.

Emphasizing that bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey continue not only at the bilateral level but also within the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) and the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), Bolat said, "On the other hand, moving beyond trade, mutual investments between the two countries are also increasing rapidly. In this sense, the governments of the two countries have signed and completed the approval process for the Agreement on the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments and the Agreement on the Avoidance of Double Taxation."
Stating that Turkey ranks first among the countries in which Azerbaijan invests the most in the world, Bolat said, "With exactly 19 billion dollars of investment, 2,800 Azerbaijani firms are doing business in Turkey. We are very pleased with this. Similarly, 5,800 companies from Turkey have come to Azerbaijan to invest, are doing business, and their investments have reached 12.5 billion dollars."

"Nakhchivan is a very important issue for us"

Stating that they are happy that Turkish contractors are also involved in the reconstruction of the regions liberated from occupation after the 30-year occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh ended, Bolat said, "Hopefully, after the 30-year occupation, we expect Nagorno-Karabakh to achieve very rapid progress and development in a very short time. Besides this, with the opening of the Zangezur Corridor after the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh, road connection to Azerbaijan via Nakhchivan from Turkey will hopefully be provided. Thus, it will be possible to operate a very fast transport line from Turkey to the Far East via Azerbaijan, and to operate the Middle Corridor and the supply and logistics chain much more effectively."

Noting that Baku is at the most important junction point of the Middle Corridor, Bolat said, "Thus, a sustainable, competitive, and uninterrupted logistics line will be established from Istanbul to Baku, and from Baku to the countries of the Turkic World and the Far East."
Emphasizing that Nakhchivan is also a very important issue for them, Bolat said, "We also desire the development of Nakhchivan's trade and economy. We have provided significant exemptions regarding the facilitation of exports from Nakhchivan to Turkey. Before coming here, we signed a decree and provided an important convenience for Nakhchivan."
Following the opening program, Bolat and Jabbarov attended the signing ceremony for the 2024 Action Plan between AZPROMO and TÜİB, as well as agreements between "DO-DEM LLC" and "Multipak Ambalaj," and "Diplomat LTD" and "Dogru Holding."

Minister Bolat will leave Azerbaijan after holding a meeting with Azerbaijan's Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov as part of his contacts.