A BRIEFCASE FULL OF PROPOSALS

When Azerbaijan gained its independence in the early 1990s, Poland became one of the leading trading partners of our country. We still remember that Polish shoes and clothing were regarded as the best at the markets of Baku, while food shops sold Polish sausage, alcohol and so on. The class of merchants, which had just emerged in Azerbaijan - former speculators, visited Poland for new merchandize almost every month… But some 10 or 15 years later, the situation drastically changed: Polish goods in Azerbaijan were replaced by Chinese and pseudo-Turkish goods of dubious quality, and the volume of trade with Poland noticeably dropped. In 2007, it dropped by about 30 per cent - from 76 million dollars last year to 45 million (according to the first eight months of this year). The state of affairs is almost the same with another trading partner of our country in Eastern Europe - Bulgaria.

Azerbaijan-Poland: loans to salvage trade

According to Polish Minister of Economy Piotr Grzegorz Wozniak, the unstable nature of the trade turnover between the two countries is graphically shown by the fact that the termination of Polish sugar supplies alone to Azerbaijan caused a 30 per cent fall in trade between our two countries. This happened because our country set up its own sugar factory in Imisli District, and sugar import was no longer needed. But Poland has loads of other products that Azerbaijan could buy, for example, the same sausage, chocolate, bread and alcoholic drinks. They were presented at the second exhibition of Polish goods held in Baku in early November. Incidentally, Azerbaijan could hold a similar exhibition in Poland, especially as Poland has already expressed its interest in importing Azerbaijani fruit, juice, tea, wines and nuts.

Returning to the drop in supplies of Polish goods to Azerbaijan, we should point out that the problem is about the long distance between our two countries, representatives of various companies said in conversation with journalists. Although prices for these goods are quite moderate in Poland itself, they will double or even treble in Azerbaijan due to transport expenses, customs duties and so on.

The only thing that representatives of the Polish government say can salvage the situation is the signing in the near future of an agreement on a beneficial Polish government loan to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani Minister of Economic Development Heydar Babayev says that at the current stage, a decision has been made to submit this issue to the two countries' finance ministers for consideration. "We agreed that the loan will be spent on financing the implementation of a joint project. Poland does not aim to make any money on this loan, which is why its terms are quite beneficial," Babayev said. He said that the two parties are still in the process of selecting a project on which this loan will be spent. It is more likely to be a construction project or a project to organize storage of food products. It is also planned that one of the participants in the project will be the Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC). As for the size of the loan, it will depend on the project. "We have decided not to limit ourselves to the size of the loan. But usually, Poland allocates loans from 15 million to 280 million dollars," Babayev said.

Of course, the plans of the Polish energy giant Orlen to invest in Azerbaijan's oil and gas sphere will also have a positive influence on the development of trade and economic relations between the two countries. Negotiations on this issue have already started with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, however, the volume of investments and the name of the deposit, in the exploitation of which Orlen will participate, will be identified during the negotiations with SOCAR.

Apart from that, it is very important that Poland fully supports Azerbaijan's bid to join the WTO and is ready to render the necessary assistance in this process. For our country, this process has been very slow, and it is not as easy as it seemed at first sight. For this reason, Poland's readiness to share experience in bringing legislation in line with WTO requirements can be rated highly. "We have gone this way and are ready to share our experience with Azerbaijan, for example, in the sphere of the correct formulation and interpretation of laws," Wozniak said in Baku. He said that Azerbaijan has already been given 80 answers to questions, and cooperation in this sphere will continue. What's more, Poland is also ready to assist Azerbaijan in its cooperation with the European Union and its plans to join the EU and access the European market. In a word, if all these plans are implemented, the traditional trade and economic cooperation between the two countries will increase even more.

Azerbaijan-Bulgaria: economy to help politics

As far as Bulgaria is concerned, Azerbaijan and this country have established good political cooperation and dialogue, which we cannot say for economic relations that are at a very low level today and do not even reflect half of our potential. For this reason, the two countries' prime ministers are now trying to improve the situation, and Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev visited Baku in mid-November.

"The current commodity turnover (8-10 million dollars per year) looks ridiculous against the background of Bulgaria's overall trade turnover (14 billion dollars) and its trade turnover with Turkey (3 billion dollars)," he said while commenting on the situation. It must be noted that his figures are slightly different from the official statistical figures of the Azerbaijani side. For example, our State Statistics Committee maintains that the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Bulgaria totalled 21.8 million dollars according to the results of 2006. Goods worth 15.5 million dollars were imported and 6.3 million dollars were exported. In nine months of 2007, the volume of trade operations between the two countries totalled 11.4 million dollars (import - 6.3 million and export - 5.1 million). Throughout 2004, the overall commodity turnover reached 54.9 million dollars (import - 5.6 million dollars and export - 49.3 million dollars), and in 2005 - 105.5 million dollars (4.6 million dollars and 100.9 million dollars respectively).

Nevertheless, these figures are not consoling, of course. According to the Bulgarian prime minister, the two countries also need to conclude agreements on cultural and scientific cooperation in order to fully form the infrastructure and basis of bilateral relations. According to Azerbaijani Prime Minister Artur Rasizada, the Azerbaijani government intends to increase economic cooperation. "Today is the most convenient moment for implementing projects, because both countries are demonstrating a high pace of economic growth, and on the other hand, Bulgaria's entry into the European Union serves as a basis for this," he said. Thus, following Poland, Bulgaria might become one of Azerbaijan's strongest economic partners in Eastern Europe and the European Union. This is extremely important because, as is known, the economy is closely linked to politics, and in future, economic cooperation might come in handy in the process of expressing political positions.

For example, Bulgaria has repeatedly said that it supports a peaceful solution to the Ar-menian-Azerbaijani Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. According to Stanishev, any unsolved conflict may have a negative impact on the comprehensive development of the region. "I am aware of the continuing negotiating process to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijan Nagornyy Karabakh conflict with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group, and I know that certain positive results have been achieved," Stanishev said, adding that "in the process of solving such a conflict, it is necessary to take into account that peace between the conflicting sides would give an impetus to the economic and social development of the region."

The Bulgarian prime minister said that though Azerbaijan and Bulgaria maintain traditionally friendly relations, "political relations between the two countries are not very active". "I think that it is time to expedite the cooperation between the two states. Sofia is interested in expanding and deepening its relations with Azerbaijan from both a political and economic point of view," he said. According to Stanishev, as a member of the EU, Bulgaria can and is ready to make its own contribution to the implementation of the national action plan on the New Neighbourhood Policy between Azerbaijan and the European Union.