Israel, Azerbaijan signed cooperation agreement on customs matters

Azerbaijan and Israel signed an agreement on mutual support in the customs area.
 
The Israeli Customs Directorate reported that the agreement on behalf of the Azerbaijani side was signed by Customs Committee Chairman (SCC) Lieutenant-General of Customs Service Aydin Aliyev and on behalf of Israel by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Israel Michael Lavon Lotem.
 
During the signing ceremony SCC head noted that the State Customs Committee is interested in expanding cooperation with the Israeli Customs Directorate"The agreement signed between the Azerbaijani and Israeli governments gives an impetus to bilateral relationships, and will accelerate the process of cooperation and integration of the parties".
 
Azerbaijan has become an important trading partner with Israel security and foreign affairs. Economic cooperation between Israel and Azerbaijan has grown significantly.
 
In 2011, the trade between the two countries totaled more than US$2.5 billion. Between 2000 and 2005, Israel has gone from being Azerbaijan's tenth largest trading partner to its fifth. According to U.N. statistics, between 1997 and 2004, exports from Azerbaijan to Israel increased from barely over US$2 million to US$323 million, fueled in recent years by the high price of oil.
 
Israeli-Azerbaijani trade now outweighs the trade relations Israel has developed with the countries of Central Asia by at least a factor of five. In 2010 Israel's export to Azerbaijan totaled US$110 million of which US$62 million was high-tech.
 
Doron Arbeli the acting director of Israel's tax Authority said in a press release that the agreement is a good example to the opening of new markets to international trade.