BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 14. Fostering
stronger cooperation with Central Asian nations has persistently
been a cornerstone of Azerbaijan’s international coverage. President Ilham
Aliyev’s devoted concentrate on forging partnerships with every of the
Central Asian economies has performed a pivotal function in fortifying
important connections with the South Caucasus.
In the current geopolitical surroundings, all states of Central
Asia are actively pursuing enhanced cooperation with Azerbaijan
throughout various instructions. This contains Kazakhstan, which is
working in direction of rising its oil exports by
Azerbaijani-built vitality infrastructure. Turkmenistan can be
searching for collaboration with Azerbaijan on fuel exports as a part of a
undertaking that’s nonetheless within the draft, or Uzbekistan that’s
demonstrating a robust want to collectively work on the event of
the Middle Corridor, which presently serves because the essential route
for accessing the European marketplace for all Central Asian
economies.
Despite the truth that Tajikistan is a rustic that not solely
lacks widespread borders with Azerbaijan through the Caspian Sea, however is
additionally geographically distant from Azerbaijan, the relations between
the 2 states are a lot nearer than they might seem.
Currently, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan are collaborating on
quite a few financial initiatives, encompassing the vitality sector, the oil
business, and the aluminum business. Key sectors for financial
collaboration between Tajikistan and Azerbaijan comprise
metallurgy, the agro-industrial advanced, vitality, gentle business,
transportation, telecommunications, and the monetary sector.
As of April this yr, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan had established
a authorized basis for his or her bilateral cooperation by
roughly 62 agreements masking numerous areas of
collaboration. On April 5, 2023, a further 14 agreements
spanning numerous sectors had been launched. Among these, an important
one is the motion plan outlining financial cooperation between the
two governments till 2025, which is predicted to function the
cornerstone for the event of efficient mechanisms to
strengthen their bilateral ties.
One of probably the most promising paperwork is the settlement pertaining
to cooperation within the transportation sector. The Protocol for the
alternate of advance data on items and automobiles transported
between Azerbaijan and Tajikistan will considerably increase commerce
relations and streamline logistics. Azerbaijan has established
sturdy transport connections with all Central Asian nations and
is regularly striving to reinforce them, which has led the nation
to evolve right into a regional transportation hub. Tajikistan stands to
acquire immensely from this cooperation.
Other agreements embrace promotion of investments, start-ups and
entrepreneurship, in addition to cooperation in humanitarian and
tradition fields.
In the vitality subject, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan have initiated
extremely promising initiatives in latest occasions. After the sixth session of
the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation
between Tajikistan and Azerbaijan in Baku on July 7, 2023, each
events reached an accord to execute distinct initiatives geared toward
fortifying commerce and financial collaboration between the 2
nations.
These initiatives embody the creation of collaborative
industrial ventures and the availability of Azeri Light crude oil from
Azerbaijan to cater to the necessities of the oil refinery inside
the Dangara Special Economic Zone, fostering subsequent petroleum
product manufacturing in Tajikistan.
Meanwhile, the commerce turnover between Azerbaijan and Tajikistan
over the primary 7 months of 2023 reached over $2.3 million, which is
0.06 p.c of the overall Azerbaijani international commerce turnover with
the CIS nations. In 2022, the bilateral commerce quantity amounted to
$5.8 million. While these numbers could not appear excessive, each events
have made notable strides in bolstering their cooperation in latest
years.
Taking a cue from its neighbors, Tajikistan has the potential to
leverage the distinct enterprise alternatives presently accessible in
Azerbaijan. The sturdy and enduring relationships with Central
Asian nations are the result of President Ilham Aliyev’s
forward-thinking insurance policies. As we glance forward, Azerbaijan has
solidified its connections with this area, and, in collaboration
with its companions, is actively advancing the area’s improvement
for the mutual good thing about all stakeholders.
