Kazakhstan may start exporting railcars to Azerbaijan

"For 8 months, the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan increased by 2.1 times year-over-year. That is about $168 million. In 2017, we were entrusted with doubling the trade turnover in the next 2-3 years. However, we assume that if these trends continue, we are to accomplish the task of doubling the turnover in advance, before the end of the year.
It is important that the Azerbaijani side, at our request, resumed purchases of Kazakhstan-grown grain. This also resulted in turnover growth," said Kanat Bozumbayev on the sidelines of the ministry before the 15th session of the Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation.
According to him, in the space of eight months, Kazakhstan's exports to Azerbaijan more than doubled, while imports increased by about 75-76 percent.
"Azerbaijan supplies metal structures, ferrous metal products, pipes, etc. which are used in the west of the country [Kazakhstan] at oil operations, the modernization of the Tengiz field. We, in turn, supply agricultural, engineering, and petroleum products. The railway companies are now discussing the supply of railcars and locomotives, but upon pre-export financing," the Kazakh minister clarified.
Parviz Shahbazov also expressed his opinion on the results of cooperation for the current period.
"According to the results of 2018, there was a strong rise in turnover," he said, adding that the cooperation between the two countries covers various aspects, including economic, cultural, and humanitarian ones.
"We are holding today the 15th session of our Intergovernmental Commission, where we will summarize the results of the year. We have a very long and informative draft document we are going to sign today," added Shahbazov.