Third Black Sea trade and investment forum held in Baku

The third Black Sea Trade and Investment Forum, jointly organized by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and Turkish Society of Industrialists and Businessmen (TUSIAB), was held in Baku, Azerbaijan. The forum was attended by Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek and Azerbaijani First Deputy Parliamentary SpeakerZiyafet Askerov. Speaking on the sidelines of the forum, Cicek underlined the importance of regional cooperation to ensure welfare and stability, saying that the forum is significant in this sense. For his part, TUSKON Chairman Rizanur Meral said that Turkey’s exports to Azerbaijan ranked the first among other countries. Stating that the foreign trade volume between the two countries has reached $3.5 billion by the end of 2011, Meral said that the amount was expected to climb to $5 billion in 2015. Meral also said that Turkey attached great importance to the Black Sea Basin and believed in the importance of establishing close relations with the countries and businesspeople in the region. The organization was also attended by a total of 440 businesspeople from Albania, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia. On the sidelines of the forum, businesspeople held bilateral talks with representatives from Azerbaijani companies operating in such fields as agriculture, food, stockbreeding, industrial products and machinery, construction materials, textile, ready-made clothing and furniture.