Azerbaijan
The Middle Corridor's hinge between the Caspian and the Black Sea
Azerbaijan sits exactly where the Middle Corridor runs: the port of Alat outside Baku is where cargo moves from a Caspian vessel onto rail for Georgia and Türkiye. The country is in neither the WTO nor the EAEU customs union and has no free-trade agreement with the EU, so the customs regime is purely national. The economy rests on oil and gas, but the state is investing in diversification and in logistics — and logistics is the most accessible way in for European firms.
Setting up a company
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Legal forms
- ·Sole trader
- ·Foreign ownership
- ·Minimum capital
- ·How long registration takes
- ·Documents to incorporate
- ·Licences and permits
- ·What to watch for
- ·Special regimes and zones
Taxes
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Corporate income tax
- ·VAT
- ·Withholding tax — dividends
- ·Withholding tax — royalties
- ·Double taxation treaty
What it makes and needs
Oil and gas make up the overwhelming majority of exports; then fruit, vegetables and chemicals.
Machinery and equipment, vehicles, food, pharmaceuticals and building materials.
Logistics and port technology, power including renewables, agricultural and food machinery, construction, healthcare.
Money and payments
AZN — manat
The manat is effectively pegged to the US dollar. Current-account operations are free; the bank asks for underlying documentation.
Importing into their market
A national customs regime, outside both the EAEU and the WTO. Clearance is run by the State Customs Committee.
Mandatory certification under national technical regulations (AZSTAND); neither EAC nor CE is automatically valid.
Bringing their goods into the EU
Azerbaijan has no free-trade agreement with the EU and is not a GSP beneficiary — imports into the EU bear the full common customs tariff rate.
Practical matters
Azerbaijani is the state and administrative language; Russian and English are common in business.
The port of Alat and the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway are key links in the Middle Corridor; Baku is well connected to Europe by air.
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