By Fikret Dolukhanov (Baku)
Azerbaijan has expanded exports of its products to Arab markets and plans to hold the demonstration of its new trade concept in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in January 2019, its Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the UAE Elnur Aliyev said.
Elnur Aliyev reminded that the UAE is one of the four countries where the trade missions of Azerbaijan operate.
“We have started operations since 2018. And from there on, the trade and economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates have been transferred to our trade mission. We paid special attention to the concept of the “Azerbaijani trading house”, the main goal of which is to form Azerbaijan as a brand in the world markets,” Aliyev said.
Aliyev added that the main and the most peculiar point of this concept is the approach, when a trade mission office, a trading house and a restaurant, which will exclusively use Azerbaijani products, will be located in a single place.
The country’s trade representative underlined that a fairly well-known place was chosen in Dubai for this purpose: on Jumeirah Road, in a mall near the world famous Burj Al Arab.
Burj Al Arab (literally “Arab Tower”) is a luxury hotel in Dubai. The building stands in the sea at a distance of 280 meters from the coast on an artificial island connected to the ground with a bridge. With a height of 321 meters, it had been the tallest hotel in the world, starting from 1999, until another Dubai hotel appeared – the Rose Tower – 333 meters high, which was opened in April 2008.
According to Aliyev, the preparatory work in the chosen place within the framework of the concept has almost ended.
“All the work has already come to an end in the restaurant and the import of Azerbaijani products is currently being carried out. In the trade mission office and the premises of the trading house, repair work will be completed by the end of the year, after which an opening ceremony and presentation of the whole concept will be held in January 2019. The concept will create a synergy effect: a person purchasing Azerbaijani products will be able to try them in the dishes of the national cuisine,” Aliyev said.
The trade representative of Azerbaijan noted that the restaurant itself will promote the national cuisine of Azerbaijan as a brand and will contribute to its standardization and popularization abroad.
In turn, the trade mission office will provide information support for the entire concept, as well as create conditions for representatives of Azerbaijani companies visiting Dubai, organize meetings for them, propose various logistic solutions.
Aliyev also said that one of the important partners of the trade mission is the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO), which played a big role in emergence of the project. According to Aliyev, joint work is currently being carried out to organize a single stand of Azerbaijan for exhibitions.
It is worth mentioning that several days ago the export mission of Azerbaijani entrepreneurs, consisting of representatives of 29 companies engaged in the production of building materials, textiles, canned products, and juices etc., went to Saudi Arabia to establish trade cooperation.
For reference: in January-November 2018, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and the UAE amounted to $48.84 million, of which $19.16 million accounted for exports from Azerbaijan, and $29.68 million for imports from the UAE.
