January 26, 2022: The ambassador of Azerbaijan Khazar Farhadov invited the business and industrial community of Karachi to look into the possibility of investing in the Alat Free Economic Zone (AFEZ) while exchanging views at a meeting during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI), said a press release issued on Wednesday.
The envoy added that Pakistani investors by setting up their business units in Azerbaijan will experience a business-friendly environment due to reduced red tape and ongoing reforms in the macroeconomic environment, human capital & labour market, infrastructure and utilities, investor protection, foreign trade facilitation and technology and innovations.
Azerbaijani Ambassador further pointed out that a total of 2137 Pakistani companies were registered in Azerbaijan covering key sectors including industry, trade, services, construction, transport and telecommunication while the overall investment by Pakistani companies in Azerbaijan stood at US$4.2 million during the period from 1995-2021.
Highlighting the business opportunities between the two countries, he said that Pakistani businessmen can export clothes and other textile products, optic and medical equipment, pharmaceutical products, rice, mangoes, bananas and other tropical fruits while Azerbaijan can export cotton & cotton yarn, polymers of ethylene or propylene, black fermented tea, tomatoes, hazzle nuts, strawberries, berries, vegetables, fruit juices, sauces etc.
Earlier, President KCCI Muhammad Idrees, w1hile welcoming the Ambassador, stated that during 2020, Pakistan's exports to Azerbaijan stood at $11.63 million and imports totalled $1.66 million which were quite meagre and much below the true potential.
“It is essential that the two countries must get engaged in an exchange of delegations at the governmental and the private sector level for promotion of bilateral trade and strengthening the economic cooperation and partnership”, he added.
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