Azerbaijan among top foreign investors in Turkey

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

The volume of direct Azerbaijani investments in Turkey grew by three times in January-March 2015, amounting $277 million in comparison to the same period in 2014.

This was stated in the report of the Turkish Central Bank for the first quarter of this year.

Azerbaijan invested $73 million in the Turkish economy in January 2015, while in February this amount stood at $30 million and in March $174 million.

In the first quarter of 2015, Azerbaijan, with a share of 9.89 percent, ranked the second among Asian countries which invested in Turkey.

Malaysia with 11.3 percent took leading position investing a total of $317 million in the country. China with $157 million (5.6 percent) placed third.

Among all countries, which invest in Turkey, Azerbaijan takes fourth place. The first is Russia -- $737 million (26.3 percent), followed by Holland -- $441 million (15.75 percent). The UK is on the fifth place on the amount of investments in Turkey -- $179 million or 6.39 percent.

Overall, in between January and March 2015, the volume of direct foreign investments in Turkey amounted $ 2.8 billion. This figure is by 9.1 percent less than in 2014.

Currently, Turkey is one of the main trade partners of Azerbaijan. The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Turkey at the end of 2014 amounted to $ 1,789 billion, while imports from Turkey to Azerbaijan was $ 1.3 billion and the exports to Turkey was $502.49 million.

The two countries managed to develop their political-economic cooperation to the level of strategic partnership and currently the Azerbaijani-Turkish relations are developing in all directions.

The friendly relations between Baku and Ankara are regarded as a successful example of a staunch alliance.

Azerbaijan's energy giant SOCAR is one of the world's most well-established oil companies, active in Turkey since 2008. SOCAR is involved in a number of major investment projects in Turkey, including the construction of TANAP, Star refinery, and others. The volume of investment of SOCAR in Turkey's economy will reach $5 billion by late 2014.

SOCAR spent about $900 million for construction of Star refinery in Izmir, Turkey, which is planned to be commissioned in late 2017.

Considering the current trend of expansion of ties and important projects initiated and realized by the two countries, the Azerbaijani-Turkish collaboration is expected to develop in the future.