OREANDA-NEWS. October 20, 2011. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who is on an official visit to Kazakhstan, and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev have issued a joint statement.

Nazarbayev has claimed that trade turnover between the two countries for the past months of the year has increased by 60%, which, of course, gladdens, but the total amount of USD 350 million does not match the potential.

"In future we expect that Baku and Azerbaijan as a whole will become a major transport route for Kazakh oil and other products," he said.

President Aliyev, in turn, said that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to the development of bilateral economic relations in all directions.

"The increase in turnover in percentage ratio, of course, is good, but the volume cannot satisfy us, especially considering such a huge economic and industrial potential of our countries. Azerbaijan already today has sufficient transit potential and infrastructure for reception of large Kazakh oil. We expect that when oil production in Kazakhstan is increased, we’ll present our transit opportunities, so that it would also be within the framework of our mutual cooperation," the Azerbaijani leader said.