Azerbaijan, Turkey eye prospects of SMBs cooperation

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Small and Medium Business Development Agency chairman Orkhan Mammadov and Turkey's Industry and Technology Deputy Minister Cetin Ali Donmez have discussed cooperation opportunities between the two countries in the SMBs sphere.

During the meeting, the parties also focused on the innovations in the field of small and medium-sized businesses.

The parties stressed the importance of such meetings in terms of the implementation of initiatives that will expand new support opportunities for SMBs.

Moreover, they discussed the joint action plan for cooperation between the Agency and Turkey's Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization. The organization's president Hasan Basri Kurt also attended the meeting.

Azerbaijan and Turkey cooperate in various fields of economy and have jointly completed giant energy and infrastructure projects such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, and TANAP.

In 2021, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed the Shusha Declaration on Allied Relations, which focuses on defence cooperation, promoting regional stability and prosperity, and establishing new transportation routes.

The two countries set up a goal to bring the mutual trade turnover to $15 billion in 2023. As of 2021, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $4.6 billion.

It should be noted that so far, Turkey is Azerbaijan’s second-largest investor followed by the UK.

Additionally, Turkey was one of the first countries that expressed its interest and readiness to participate in the restoration of Azerbaijan’s liberated territories.