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Indian Minister of State for Commerce: We discovered Azerbaijan 15 years too late

12 April 2007 13:46 (UTC +04:00)

Jairam Ramesh, Indiaâ€™s Minister of State for Commerce has been interviewed by the APA

- Are you satisfied with your visit in Azerbaijan?
- More than satisfied, wholly satisfied. It was a privilege that I spent 45 minutes with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. And I spent many hours with the minister of economic development Heydar Babayev. I had a very good meeting with industry and energy minister Natig Aliyev. I also had very good meeting with deputy foreign minister Khalaf Khalafov.
India has discovered Azerbaijan 15 years too late. But we will be more 15 times faster.
- Which are the areas of cooperation that are going to be great between India and Azerbaijan?
- We are looking for a major partnership between SOCAR and our state oil exploration company. We are looking as a part of this partnership to make major investment in the oil sector to improve the recovery of oil in the existing in the existing oil fields in Azerbaijan. Both offshore and onshore. We discussed this fields, I mentioned the president that in the next few weeks Indian oil company and SOCAR will work out a partnership agreement for cooperation in oil. Second area is cooperation in the field of natural gas, in the distribution of city gas and in gas-based petrochemicals. Third area is cooperation in the field of minerals, particularly gold. Because, India is the largest importer of gold in the world. We import 800 tomes of gold every year. The fourth area is IT. I have offered the president of Azerbaijan the Indian governmentâ€™s willingness to establish a Heydar Aliyev center for IT technology in Baku. We will train Azerbaijani youth, boys and girls for IT. Another area for cooperation is pharmaceuticals. We would like Indian companies to make investments to manufacture drugs and pharmaceuticals in Azerbaijan. I have also offered to increase the number of scholarships that we provide for Azerbaijani students to study in India in low, in management, in engineering, in science. Finally the most important area of cooperation is culture. The Ateshgah complex represents a monument to Indo-Azerbaijan relationships. We want to have close cultural program between India and Azerbaijan in history, in archeology, in culture, in films, in television, and radio.
- During your meetings in Baku, were you mentioned that Indian companies are illegally doing mining of gold in Armenian-occupied territories of Azerbaijan?
- Yes, it came up twice. It was raised by the media. And I have said clearly that any Indian company which comes to Azerbaijan will respect the laws and rules of Azerbajan. If it is violating the laws and rules of Azerbaijan, we will stop the operation. For us the friendship and trust of people of Azerbaijan is more important than oil and gold. We do not want Azerbaijan to have complaint on India.
- India is one of the initiator of the North-South transport corridor. At what stage the project is right now?
- Unfortunately, the mentioned project has not made much progress. I hope that we will be able to revise the project. India is committed to the mentioned project. India would like to work closely with Russia, Iran and also Azerbaijan to develop the said project.
- Does India plan to drive benefit from the Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalak-Kars railway line?
- Definitely, we would also like to participate in the building of this railway line. Because, we have the worldâ€™s second largest railway network. And we have lot of experience in building railways all over the world. So, not only in railway project but also in other pipeline project, which will bring oil from Baku, from the Caspian Sea to Eilat, Israel. That is also important for us. That will enable us to buy more oil from Azerbaijan. There is proposal to build another pipeline. If the pipeline comes to Eilat, it makes India also customer for Azerbaijani oil. Buying oil would be economic for us if it comes from Eilat. I would certainly say that India would like to participate in any venture that brings Central Asia and Caspian Sea countries closer.
- What about the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and India?
- I do not see the future of Indo-Azerbaijan economic relationship lying in trade but in investment, Indian investments in Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani investments in India. So, trade turnover will not be very big. But we want investment to be the locomotive. Joint intergovernmental commission between Azerbaijan and India has been set up. Today it becomes operational.
- When will the commission sit?
- We would like the first meeting of the commission to be held in Delhi in the next 3 months. The Indian side is prepared to have the meeting just tomorrow. /APA/