During his speech at the 5th Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia in Tajikistan, President Ilham Aliyev highlighted Azerbaijan's cooperation with the countries of this region.

“The growth of mutual trade and investments is one of the key factors of the bilateral cooperation. It is gratifying that the figures in both of those directions indicate consistent growth,” the head of state said.

“Last year the trade turnover of Azerbaijan with the Central Asian countries increased more than 3 times. During 7 months of this year – for another 50%. Joint investment funds have been established, and with over $1 billion of investments for the coming 3 years have been agreed. We are already implementing many projects in the sphere of industrial cooperation, machine-building, automobile industry, shipbuilding and agriculture, namely cotton production, sericulture, horticulture and livestock farming. Investment projects in hotel business and tourism are at the initial stage of implementation. We see the interest of Central Asian companies in the Alat Free Economic Zone established recently in Azerbaijan,” the President of Azerbaijan underlined.