Ruslan Mirsayapov, Trade Mission of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Azerbaijan
The Greater Eurasian Partnership (GEP) is a concrete and practical initiative voiced by Russia’s President Vladi-mir Putin in his Address to the Federal Assembly in 2015. This partnership seeks to shape vast integration outlines in Eurasia, and its collective efforts with the stakeholders aim at promoting a just polycentric world and establishing an equitable, multi-speed and mutually beneficial economic cooperation on a wide range of pressing issues. Industrial cooperation between Eurasian countries is indeed import-ant.
As Alexey Gruzdev, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, pointed out, a number of large mutually beneficial projects in the EAEU countries are being carried out by the leading Russian manufacturers — KAMAZ, AvtoVAZ, Russian Helicopters, Rostselmash, KIROVETS, among others.
While Russia is also home to a number of successful Union companies, in particular in such sectors as agricultural and special machine building, automotive industry, and radio electronics — “EAEU and CIS partners produce and provide Russian industrial facilities with raw materials, components, assemblies and equipment necessary for making end products. It is also safe to complete the list with textile industry, machine tools, mining equipment, chemical products, among others.” With support from the Russian Trade Mission in Azerbaijan, Russian machine manufacturers are developing investment projects to build assembly plants in Azerbaijan. Local industrial sites are home to KAMAZ, Sollers, Ural, and AvtoVAZ, and joint projects have attracted 2 billion roubles.
The EAEU is playing a crucial role in the Greater Eurasian Partnership, particularly emphasising multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements. Vietnam, Serbia and Iran have already concluded such agreements, and similar documents are under con-sideration with Egypt, Indonesia, the UAE and India.
As Alexey Gruzdev, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, pointed out, a number of large mutually beneficial projects in the EAEU countries are being carried out by the leading Russian manufacturers — KAMAZ, AvtoVAZ, Russian Helicopters, Rostselmash, KIROVETS, among others.
While Russia is also home to a number of successful Union companies, in particular in such sectors as agricultural and special machine building, automotive industry, and radio electronics — “EAEU and CIS partners produce and provide Russian industrial facilities with raw materials, components, assemblies and equipment necessary for making end products. It is also safe to complete the list with textile industry, machine tools, mining equipment, chemical products, among others.” With support from the Russian Trade Mission in Azerbaijan, Russian machine manufacturers are developing investment projects to build assembly plants in Azerbaijan. Local industrial sites are home to KAMAZ, Sollers, Ural, and AvtoVAZ, and joint projects have attracted 2 billion roubles.
The EAEU is playing a crucial role in the Greater Eurasian Partnership, particularly emphasising multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements. Vietnam, Serbia and Iran have already concluded such agreements, and similar documents are under con-sideration with Egypt, Indonesia, the UAE and India.
Russian Dep-uty Minister of Economic Development Dmitry Volvach speaking at the session “The Greater Eurasian Partnership: Pathways to Economic Development” of the 7th Eastern Economic Forum emphasised that “After the EAEU+, CIS is the structural element of the GEP — it is a large free trade zone with a huge, more than 240 million market, which also ensures the stability of the economies of the countries included in this association due to stable links (economic, social and cultural).”
And Azerbaijani business is showing the keenest interest in promoting its non-resource non-energy exports to the CIS and EAEU+ markets and attracting investment into the national economy to implement transnational projects. In June 2024, Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov, taking part as a guest in the Minsk meeting of the Eurasian Inter-governmental Council, noted that Azerbaijan’s trade turnover with EAEU partners has increased by 9% by the end of 2023. According to the Trade Mission, this figure is expected to grow by another 12–15% by the end of this year compared to 2023.
Transport, as the economic framework for boosting foreign trade flows, is the constant priority of the GEP. The Russian Federation is ready to offer a whole array of competitive routes by all transport means to increase trade flows in Eurasia, and Azerbaijan plays a vital and even pivotal role in this vein.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, who attended the May 2023 meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Moscow as a guest of honour, stressed that “Azerbaijan is located at the geographical crossroads of the East-West and North-South transport routes. The transport and logistics system of our country makes it possible to carry transport operations in any direction.
Azerbaijan has the largest commercial fleet in the Cas-pian Sea — over 50 vessels. We will soon modernise the Alyat seaport, designed to transport 15 million tonnes of freight. Its new transloading capacity will reach 25 million tonnes. This is particularly important, considering a large increase in freight traffic that has been passing through Azerbaijan lately.”
The Business Club at the Russian Trade Mission in Azerbaijan, which brings together dozens of Azerbaijani entrepreneurs, includes a large number of local logistics and trans-port company executives. Almost all Azerbaijani transport companies in Greater Eurasia are of the view that developing Azerbaijan’s transport potential will contribute to stronger “binding” of Eurasia into a single eco-nomic space. Russian and Azerbaijani logistics companies daily tackle issues caused by geopolitical confrontation and at-tempts of certain states to destabilise global transport chains.
And Azerbaijani business is showing the keenest interest in promoting its non-resource non-energy exports to the CIS and EAEU+ markets and attracting investment into the national economy to implement transnational projects. In June 2024, Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov, taking part as a guest in the Minsk meeting of the Eurasian Inter-governmental Council, noted that Azerbaijan’s trade turnover with EAEU partners has increased by 9% by the end of 2023. According to the Trade Mission, this figure is expected to grow by another 12–15% by the end of this year compared to 2023.
Transport, as the economic framework for boosting foreign trade flows, is the constant priority of the GEP. The Russian Federation is ready to offer a whole array of competitive routes by all transport means to increase trade flows in Eurasia, and Azerbaijan plays a vital and even pivotal role in this vein.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, who attended the May 2023 meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Moscow as a guest of honour, stressed that “Azerbaijan is located at the geographical crossroads of the East-West and North-South transport routes. The transport and logistics system of our country makes it possible to carry transport operations in any direction.
Azerbaijan has the largest commercial fleet in the Cas-pian Sea — over 50 vessels. We will soon modernise the Alyat seaport, designed to transport 15 million tonnes of freight. Its new transloading capacity will reach 25 million tonnes. This is particularly important, considering a large increase in freight traffic that has been passing through Azerbaijan lately.”
The Business Club at the Russian Trade Mission in Azerbaijan, which brings together dozens of Azerbaijani entrepreneurs, includes a large number of local logistics and trans-port company executives. Almost all Azerbaijani transport companies in Greater Eurasia are of the view that developing Azerbaijan’s transport potential will contribute to stronger “binding” of Eurasia into a single eco-nomic space. Russian and Azerbaijani logistics companies daily tackle issues caused by geopolitical confrontation and at-tempts of certain states to destabilise global transport chains.
The Russian Trade Mission in Azerbaijan anticipates that by the end of 2024, transit cargo traffic along the western rail track of the North-South ITC will grow by a quarter compared to last year. In February 2023, Baku hosted the round table “Azerbaijan as a Junction of Integration Initiatives in Eurasia”, with members of the Business Club under the Russian Trade Mission taking a very active part. The event brought together the Russian and Kazakh Ambassadors to Azerbaijan, representatives of the Chinese, Uzbek and Belarusian Embassies, members of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis, representatives of the EEC Integration Development Department and the Russian Government Office.
Some of the most pressing issues raised by the participants included the harmonisation of customs procedures in the Greater Eurasian space, the need to increase the share of nation-al currencies in mutual settlements, and “green corridors” for supplying agro-industrial products. Cargo volume along the western route of the North-South ITC, connecting the continent economically, may be 30 million tonnes annually. The main work to develop the route has already been completed, including extending the capacity of road checkpoints on the Russian-Azerbaijani border.
Experts estimate that this route will be 30% cheaper and 40% shorter than existing ones. Hence, this trade route, which serves to link the North and South of Eurasia, Russia, the EAEU and the SCO, is well positioned to become Eurasia’s main trade artery in the 21st century. Yet, prospects of the Greater Eurasian Partnership should not come down purely to transport and logistics. As Azerbaijan is busily preparing for the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Frame-work Convention on Climate Change (COP29), the Russian Trade Mission in Azerbaijan together with the Russian Embassy organised an international round table in Baku entitled “Com-mon Regional Climate Strategy — Key to Eurasian Sustainable Development.
Prospects and Advantages for Azerbaijani Business Community.” The event was attended by Andrey Slepnyov, Member of the Board — Minister in charge of Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission (he addressed the participants through a video message), heads of Russian, Uzbek, Kyrgyz and Tajik diplomatic missions in Azerbaijan, as well as academia, experts and businessmen from CIS countries, Belarusian, Turkmen and Kazakh embassies in Azerbaijan. Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mikhail Evdokimov welcomed the participants of the round table and stressed the relevance of the theme under consideration and the high expert level of the participants.
Experts estimate that this route will be 30% cheaper and 40% shorter than existing ones. Hence, this trade route, which serves to link the North and South of Eurasia, Russia, the EAEU and the SCO, is well positioned to become Eurasia’s main trade artery in the 21st century. Yet, prospects of the Greater Eurasian Partnership should not come down purely to transport and logistics. As Azerbaijan is busily preparing for the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Frame-work Convention on Climate Change (COP29), the Russian Trade Mission in Azerbaijan together with the Russian Embassy organised an international round table in Baku entitled “Com-mon Regional Climate Strategy — Key to Eurasian Sustainable Development.
Prospects and Advantages for Azerbaijani Business Community.” The event was attended by Andrey Slepnyov, Member of the Board — Minister in charge of Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission (he addressed the participants through a video message), heads of Russian, Uzbek, Kyrgyz and Tajik diplomatic missions in Azerbaijan, as well as academia, experts and businessmen from CIS countries, Belarusian, Turkmen and Kazakh embassies in Azerbaijan. Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mikhail Evdokimov welcomed the participants of the round table and stressed the relevance of the theme under consideration and the high expert level of the participants.
Ambassadors of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to Azerbaijan also ex-tended their greetings. Elnur Soltanov, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, outlined the key directions in the development of “green” energy in Azerbaijan and highlighted the opportunities for the business community of our countries. Russian and Azerbaijani experts ad-dressing the round table raised the is-sues of regional climate strategy, glob-al commitments and national priorities, strategic balance in Eurasia’s climate strategy, realities and prospects of the energy vector of Russian-Azerbaijani economic cooperation.
Members of the Business Club under the Trade Mission took part in discussions on comparing aspects of implementing the climate strategy with regard to business. The discussions concluded with a decision to continue the tradition of holding events on this theme, and a number of joint projects were outlined to analyse the prospects and opportunities for the development of the GEP to protect the environment and combat climate change. At present, the Russian Trade Mission in Azerbaijan together with the Business Club are compiling a pool of proposals on modern Russian technologies and equipment to be used to address environmental challenges faced by Azerbaijani state and private companies.
Active participation of international experts in the events of the Trade Mission to enhance economic dialogue in Eurasia, close attention of the Russian and our CIS and EAEU partners’ business communities and mass media proves that the Eurasian track is a win- win for our countries!
Members of the Business Club under the Trade Mission took part in discussions on comparing aspects of implementing the climate strategy with regard to business. The discussions concluded with a decision to continue the tradition of holding events on this theme, and a number of joint projects were outlined to analyse the prospects and opportunities for the development of the GEP to protect the environment and combat climate change. At present, the Russian Trade Mission in Azerbaijan together with the Business Club are compiling a pool of proposals on modern Russian technologies and equipment to be used to address environmental challenges faced by Azerbaijani state and private companies.
Active participation of international experts in the events of the Trade Mission to enhance economic dialogue in Eurasia, close attention of the Russian and our CIS and EAEU partners’ business communities and mass media proves that the Eurasian track is a win- win for our countries!