On July 9, 2020, a meeting between Mr. Asset Assavbayev, Secretary General of the PS IGC TRACECA and Mr. Rodrigo Labardini, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Mexico to Azerbaijan was held via web conferencing

The Ambassador of Mexico shared with the Secretary General the status of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Mexico in terms of the trade and economic ties, considering them as one of the pillars of fruitful cooperation. Mr. Labardini informed that for the period 1995-2014, the average annual trade figure is 2.2 million US dollars. Only in the past five years, this figure has increased by more than 12 times. The Ambassador pointed out that a record annual figure of 52.4 million US dollars was registered in 2019.

In his turn, the Secretary General emphasized that as a member-state of the MLA of TRACECA, Azerbaijan has succeeded in the economic, energy and infrastructure development. Being a participant of two global transport projects - East-West and North-South, Azerbaijan has become an international transport hub. The commissioned Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is a link in the East-West corridor. In addition, according to the Decree of the President of Azerbaijan, at the end of May 2020, a new international trade port in the Caspian Sea entered the Alat Free Economic Zone, which will make the port even more economically important for Europe, China, Turkey, Iran, Russia, Central Asia and the Middle East.

During the meeting, Mr. Assavbayev and Mr. Labardini discussed the transport potential of TRACECA countries, the main priority areas, prospects within the corridor and the situation in the region in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the main emphases of the discussions, the Secretary General noted such areas of the development as the containerization of cargo, improving of border crossing procedures, the digitalization of the transport process, and the liberalization of conditions for cargo transportation. 

The issues of the preferred mode of transport (land, maritime) of the selected routes for the main cargo flows in the region, the regulation of tariff policy issues, and the introduction of electronic pre-declaration became an object of the exchange of views and discussions. 

On the outcomes of meeting, the Parties agreed on the future consideration of opportunities for the bilateral and multilateral cooperation.