Azerbaijan’s participation in the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which took place in Beijing, on April 25–28, proved successful for Baku, having resulted in a number of important new, non-oil-sector investment projects in the South Caucasus country. Specifically, during the Forum, Azerbaijani representatives signed ten agreements, cumulatively worth $821 million, with Chinese companies.
Based on these agreements, China National Electric Engineering Company (CNEEC) will invest $300 million in a tire factory in the Sumgayit chemical-industrial park (about 25 kilometers northwest of Baku). The investment promises to create 800 new factory jobs there and boost the plant’s production potential to 3.3 million tires per year. CNEEC will acquire a 90 percent share in the project. The remaining 10 percent of stock will belong to the Azerbaijan Investment Company.
The development of economic relations after 2015 also significantly affected bilateral trade volumes. Since then, trade turnover between China and Azerbaijan more than doubled, reaching $1.3 billion in 2018). And China has become one of Azerbaijan’s four top trade partners (it ranked ninth in 2015).