(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Qabil Ashirov read more Azerbaijan is one of the rare countries in the East that has
been able to combine European values with its Islamic culture and
adopt it. The country attaches importance to cooperation with
countries of the old continent and the history of the cooperation
dates back hundreds of years, and even further to the Albanian
Caucasus. The cooperation has gathered momentum, especially for the
last 30 years, after Azerbaijan got its independence, and Britain
became the largest investor in the country, and the EU became the
biggest trade partner. Today, the share of the EU in Azerbaijan's
export amounts to 67 percent, and in imports, it totaled 20
percent.
It should be mentioned that in the first years of its
independence, as a matter of course Azerbaijan preferred to
cooperate with the big countries of the old continent, such as
Britain, Italy, and so on.
Now, Azerbaijan intends to diversify its cooperation in Europe,
and Hungary steps forward in this process. Currently, the trade
turnover between Hungary and Azerbaijan is not so big (amounted to
$47m in 2022), but the reciprocal official visits, and signed
documents covering from agriculture to security foreshadow
broad-based changes. The signs of these agreements have been
already started to reveal. For example, the largest greenhouse farm
in Khizi, Azerbaijan is being constructed by a Hungarian company,
and the project is financed by Hungarian Export-Import Bank. It is
worth noting that the export of vegetables and fruits plays an
important role in Azerbaijan's non-gas-and-oil export, totaling
over 20 percent and the greenhouse constructed by the Hungarian
company will give a benefit to the export when it will start
operation.
Besides, Hell energy drink company of Hungary has a big share in
the energy beverage market of Azerbaijan. It obtains over 60
percent of the market. On July 10, 2023, the Azerbaijani Investment
Company and Hell Energy Group reached an agreement to build a
factory worth $211m.
Another good news is that a total of 800 million pieces of
aluminum beverage boxes will be produced annually in the
factory.
It could be considered as a significant step in Azerbaijani
economy, because the energy drinking is a promising market and with
the help of this factory Azerbaijan can provide not only domestic
market but also the market of CIS countries with energy drinks.
Unlike greenhouse, it is new type of production for Azerbaijan, the
country will get know-how and moreover it will create permanent
workplaces.
On top of above-mentioned, Hungary also made investment to the
oil sector in Azerbaijan, and it is considered the largest
Hungarian investment in the Caucasus.
MOL, Hungarian oil and gas company, and the US Chevron Hungry
signed an agreement, and MOL acquired a 9.5 percent stake in the
Azeri oil field and 9 percent stake in the largest oil pipeline of
Azerbaijan and the Caucasus.
Certainly, business cooperation between Azerbaijan and Hungary
is not limited with agriculture, industry and oil, it also covers
other sectors, such as gas and green energy.
Frankly speaking, gas deal between Azerbaijan and European
countries led by Hungary has totally different and interesting
background.
Although wars are generally a burden for the world and require
extra effort, sometimes countries that can reduce this burden and
have high potential play the role of saviors. Azerbaijan can be
considered one of those savior countries. With the start of the
Ukrainian war, an energy crisis broke out in Europe. This tension
began to manifest itself more in the east of Europe.
At that time, Hungary was among the countries in search of more
energy among Central and Eastern European countries. Thus, demand
meets supply - Eastern Europe turns to Baku, the beacon of the
South Caucasus, and economic relations begin to sprout.
This happened at a time when Russia was already using gas
exports to Europe as a weapon. Frequent interruptions in gas
exports, unknown provocations against the Nord Stream 1 and 2
pipelines almost led Europe to completely search for new
energy.
Of course, one aspect of this search was also related to
reliability and a long-term and stable partnership.
Finally, according to the current situation, Azerbaijan undertakes
this great initiative. As the most reliable partner, Azerbaijan can
direct Europe's hopes to the South Caucasus. All this is not so
easy to express in words.
Azerbaijan has proven its reliability with large export figures,
and as the closest partner, it has riveted the interests of Hungary
to the country.
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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews' staff journalist, follow him on
Twitter: @g_ashirov