Baku and Astana draft cooperation roadmap through 2021
ALMATY. Dec 7 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan wants to expand economic cooperation with Azerbaijan, Kazakh Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said on Thursday.
"Relations between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are developing dynamically, but we see more potential for collaboration in energy, agriculture, transport, and engineering," Bozumbayev said at a meeting of the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan commission on economic cooperation in Baku.
Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said that the roadmap stipulates a set of measures to step up bilateral cooperation with Kazakhstan in 2018-2020.
The ministers discussed diversifying oil-export routes from Kazakhstan to Europe, the joint implementation of energy projects, and the transportation of liquefied gas.
In the first nine months of 2017, trade between the two countries was $102.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 3.7%. Azerbaijan's exports to Kazakhstan increased by 7.3% to $21.8 million, and imports from Kazakhstan rose by 2.7% to $80.7 million.