BAKU, Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan and Türkiye have great potential to expand the preferential trade agreement, Trend reports via the World Bank’s latest publication.

Currently, Türkiye-Azerbaijan Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) provides tariff reduction to a very limited number of products, the WB said.

“The agreement covers the mutual reduction of customs duties on imports of a relatively small number of mostly agricultural and food products. [Türkiye] provides mostly duty-free market access to around 15 products produced in Azerbaijan, including some varieties of cheese, grapes, plums, palm, black tea, tomatoes, cucumbers, preparation of fruits, apple juice, and wine. In some cases, exports of these products are subject to an annual quota. In turn, Azerbaijan provides tariff-free market access to also about 15 Turkish products, including processed cheese, sunflower seeds, chewing gum, chocolate products, food preparations, biscuits, and tomatoes. All these exports are subject to yearly quotas,” the bank noted.

According to the WB, in addition to improving access to goods markets, a more developed PTA could cover other areas, such as investment promotion, job creation, economic growth, trade in services. The extended parental agreement may also apply to other goods that Azerbaijan produces and/or exports to other countries, including manufacturing products.

Moreover, “a deeper PTA could go beyond tariffs, to cover provisions related to services trade, investment, intellectual property rights and domestic regulation, which are not currently covered by the agreement,” the bank added.

Türkiye-Azerbaijan PTA was signed on February 25, 2020, and entered into force in March 2021.

Source: TREND News Agency