Russia calls Azerbaijan to the Eurasian Economic Union

A three-day visit of the Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulukayev to Baku is very fruitful. Ulukayev met with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Shahin Mustafayev, and discussed prospects for economic cooperation between the two countries. The Russian minister, in turn, offered to raise them to the level of strategic partnership. Alexei Ulukayev openly called on Azerbaijan to participate in the Eurasian Economic Union , saying that Azerbaijan has already enjoys free trade zone, and he said it was logical to move further in this direction .

It can be expected that Azerbaijan will be invited to at least join the Customs Union. Russia and Azerbaijan are collected during the visit to sign an agreement on long-term cooperation. As part of the negotiations  were discussed some long-standing problems in economic relations , in particular,  an agreement on mutual protection of investments between Russia and Azerbaijan, which were postponed for many years, will be signed.

Economic Development Minister Shahin Mustafayev said that in the next five or six years, Azerbaijan is going to invest in the Russian economy $ 18 billion investment. The foundation for this is already embedded in the recent agreement on a joint venture on a parity basis between the Russian “Rosneft” and SOCAR , as well as heightened credit support of  Azerbaijani projects by Savings Bank of Russia. Today Alexei Ulukayev visited Sumgait Technology Park.

Azerbaijan is among the five most promising Russian trade partners from the CIS states. By the end of 2013 the Russian- Azerbaijani trade turnover amounted to more than $ 3.5 billion, an increase compared with 2012 by 4%. Of  them 2.9 billion were in Russia, and $ 604 million on Azerbaijan. -0—