Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin arrived on a two-day visit to Baku

The two-day visit of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to Baku began on Tuesday with regular negotiations between the heads of government of Russia and Azerbaijan. The topics for discussion and priorities have not changed over the past year and a half – the countries are counting on a further increase in trade turnover, which at the end of the year reached almost $4.4 billion, they expect an increase in mutual investments and an increase in the number of cooperation projects, and also intend to develop logistics and transport, in particular North-South corridor.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin arrived on Tuesday on a two-day visit to Baku for talks with Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov, who retained his post after the recent snap presidential elections. Mr Mishustin will also meet with re-elected Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday. According to tradition, a cultural program was also prepared for the arrival of the Russian guest – the premiers toured the exhibition of the National Carpet Museum.

The previous time the Russian prime minister came to Azerbaijan was in November 2022, and since then the main topics for discussion have generally remained unchanged, although Russian-Azerbaijani plans have been updated and detailed. Thus, in January, a “road map” for economic interaction until 2026 was approved – its details were not disclosed, but it was reported that it is aimed at developing cooperation in trade, economic, investment, transport, industrial, agricultural and other areas. This document, as follows from the words of Ali Asadov, replaced seven specialized “road maps” of 2018–2023 – their implementation, he noted, was successful. Thus, Mr. Asadov added, in recent years the countries have managed to advance in many areas of cooperation, in particular within the framework of investment interaction.

It should be noted that, according to the Russian government, in 2023 Russian direct investment in the Azerbaijani economy amounted to $295 million (fourth place after Great Britain, Turkey and Cyprus).

“Your visit is a good opportunity to compare notes and outline new areas of cooperation,” Ali Asadov addressed his counterpart. At the end of last year, he said, trade turnover between the countries amounted to a record $4.4 billion (an increase of 17.5% compared to 2022). However, expectations were higher – in May, Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk spoke about plans to reach $5 billion in mutual trade turnover.

It should be noted that in physical terms the figure increased by 30%, to 6.7 million tons, of which supplies from the Russian Federation increased by 33%, to 5.5 million tons (mainly mineral products, food, agricultural raw materials and metals). Russian imports from Azerbaijan, in turn, increased by 17.7% (up to 1.2 million tons – food and agricultural raw materials, plastics). The overall positive dynamics, as previously reported by the Ministry of Economy, is largely due to both the development of e-commerce and the increase in the capacity of checkpoints, as well as the development of transport corridors.

In this regard, among other priorities, Mikhail Mishustin noted, logistics and transport remain – within this area, Moscow and Baku are “accelerating the modernization of border crossings” (as a result of negotiations, a “road map” for their development was signed), which will increase their capacity to 3 thousand cars per day. A more global part of this work is the continued development of the railway, road and maritime infrastructure of the western route of the international North-South transport corridor, which passes through Azerbaijan.

It should be noted that for Russia this project is one of the priorities due to its reorientation to the markets of Asia and the Gulf countries. By 2030, transportation of Russian cargo along the North-South corridor should increase to 32 million tons (from 17 million tons in 2022). Joint plans with Azerbaijan in this regard are enshrined in the 2022 Baku Declaration – the throughput capacity of the western corridor should increase from 9 million to 15 million tons.

It was said earlier that this work must be carried out in conjunction with the creation of points of industrial cooperation, so that the growth of transportation is accompanied by an increase in mutual production of products. Against this background, Mikhail Mishustin noted that there is “significant potential” for the development of interaction in “a number of areas” – in energy, industry, shipbuilding, agriculture and innovation. “There is a huge field for joint projects and joint investments,” he emphasized. Tourism is also considered a promising area of ​​relations between Moscow and Baku – today a “road map” for the development of this area in 2024–2026 was signed.

Evgenia Kryuchkova, Baku