EDB: Investment cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia has significant potential
Almaty, 4 March 2016. Investment cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia has untapped potential. Evgeny Vinokurov, Director of Eurasian Development Bank’s (EDB) Centre for Integration Studies stated this at the Post-Soviet Economies in the Context of the Global Crisis video conference on 4 March 2016. The participants were from Baku, Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Evgeny Vinokurov explained that Russian companies had accumulated around US $1.4 billion in direct investments in Azerbaijan, primarily in the oil sector, while Azeri investments in Russia were less than US $100 million. They are concentrated primarily in the agro-industrial and construction materials sector.
He also said that the EEU was the key market for Azerbaijan, because of demand, which could be used as an impetus to boost production in the country. “The EEU market with its 182 million of population and US $2 trillion of GDPs is not only an optimal market. It has no alternatives, at large. The current processes in the EEU are aimed at reducing non-tariff barriers and coordinating macroeconomic and industrial policies and are important to the formation of a single economic space,” he added.
Evgeny Vinokurov also stated that a constructive and pragmatic approach was needed to advance economic cooperation between Azerbaijan, Russia and other EEU member states. Such integration would help to alleviate the negative effects of the crisis and facilitate growth in Azerbaijan’s economy.
He also mentioned common economic challenges Russia and Azerbaijan face, associated with the high share of oil and gas proceeds in the countries’ budgets and the twofold devaluation of their national currencies. “Our economies need to be diversified,” the expert said in conclusion.
The Post-Soviet Economies in the Context of the Global Crisis video conference was organised by the North-South Centre for Political Science in Azerbaijan in cooperation with the Vestnik Kavkaza information agency and Russia Today. Leading specialists in Eurasian integration from Russia and Azerbaijan took part in the conference. They discussed the prospects and mechanisms for attracting investments in volatile markets, institutional reforms and anti-crisis measures, the formation of new growth points for economic development, and risks and challenges for Azerbaijan and Russia.
Additional Information:
Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is an international financial institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth, and the expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. EDB’s charter capital totals US $7 billion. The member states of the Bank are the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan.
Read more at https://www.eabr.org
EDB Media Center:
+7 (727) 244 40 44 ext. 6147 (Almaty)
+7 (495) 645 04 45 ext. 2732 (Moscow)
e-mail: pressa@eabr.org