Azerbaijan afraid of Iranian imports

Iran has launched the construction of a large shopping center in Baku to promote Iranian products.

Presstv.ir reported that the Iranian Government has allocated a total of U.S. $1bn for the construction of 20 trade centers throughout the world for the purpose of promoting Iranian exports.

Thus, Iran is promoting its economic interests by launching shopping center construction projects.

Covering the topic, the Baku-based Echo newspaper writes that the cheap Iranian products may oust their Azerbaijani counterparts from the market.

Rovshan Agayev, Vice-Chairman of the Assistance to Economic Initiatives NGO, said that cheap products are in great demand in such countries as Azerbaijan, with most of the population are far from being well off.

"This process is impossible to prevent," he said.

Agayev said that the Government can expand the production of counterpart products to oust imported products, which is not being done. "I have recently purchased different small spare parts for my car produced in China. The sellers themselves say that the spare parts are of low quality. And I ask: is it not possible to establish similar production in Azerbaijan?"

Ali Masimli, the member of the Economic Policy Committee, Azerbaijani Parliament, said that, on the one hand, Azerbaijan has competitive production, but, on the other hand, some industries are actually destroyed.

He cited the example of textile production. The prices reached the bottom when the ruble default struck Russia. He pointed out that the relatively cheap Russian textile ousted the home-made products in Azerbaijan.

"Low-income sections of population prefer cheap Iranian or Chinese products in Azerbaijan. In any case Iranian products will be sold, particularly in the borderland," Masimli said.