BAKU - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Saturday that there was a big potential between Turkey and Azerbaijan in the aspects of trade and mutual investment facilities, adding that this should be used more.
Gul met with Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Abid Sharifov and Turkish businessmen in Azerbaijan.
Gul said that the amount of mutual trade between the two countries was nearly 300 million dollars and according to official figures, Turkish businessmen made investments worth of 1,5 billion dollars in Azerbaijan. He added that however the existing potential was more.
He stressed that the trade should be mutual, not unilateral.
Touching on progress made in Turkey to recover investment conditions, Gul said that they shared these experiences with Azerbaijan.
Noting that there was a very big potential in Azerbaijan in the aspect of external investments and it was necessary to draw more foreign investments to Azerbaijan, Gul said that it was essential to establish platforms to eliminate the obstacles to encourage this. He added that he was pleased to see that Azerbaijan fulfilled very serious activities on this issue.
Gul said that foreign investments would be made to Azerbaijan with the implementation of reforms in various fields and added that the investment would be made by Turkey most.
Gul said that Azerbaijani industry should not only depend on oil. He added that development of whole industry and investments should not have to depend on oil as there was oil richness in Azerbaijan, noting that considering oil as the only income source would be a disadvantage and it was necessary to evaluate industry in very various fields.
Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Sharifov said that the biggest contribution to development of Azerbaijan in every aspect was made by Turkish government.
Noting that Azerbaijan had made progress in economy field in the last decade, Sharifov thanked Turkish businessmen in Azerbaijan for their contribution to economy.
(GC-Öª) 10.01.2004