Turkey, Azerbaijan to increase trade

Cenap Aşçı made the remarks at the first meeting of the Turkey-Azerbaijan Joint Customs Committee held in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku.

Aşçı said that the two countries signed a protocol on customs issues. "With this protocol, the customs ministers of Turkey and Azerbaijan will come together twice a year.

"The trade volume between Turkey and Azerbaijan is not satisfying. We need to increase our visits to increase the trade volume with more energy and transportation projects,” Aşçı added.

Turkey and Azerbaijan have been in close cooperation in the areas of energy and transport.

The two countries have concluded strategic regional projects, such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Crude Oil Pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum Natural Gas Pipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Project.

Saying that the two countries should firstly ease customs regulations, Aşçı added: "Turkey and Azerbaijan are brotherly countries. We will implement all the discussed issues as soon as possible.”