Communicated by Foreign Ministry Spokesman  Jerusalem, 16 april 2000 Economic relations between Israel and Azerbaijan are strengthened   The first joint Foreign Ministry - Export Institute delegation returned Friday (14) from Azerbaijan. The delegation - headed by Foreign Ministry Deputy Director General of Economics, Victor Harel - met in Baku with President Heydar Aliyev, Prime Minister Artur Rasizada, Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliyev as well as with economic ministers: the Minister of the Treasury, the Minister of Communication, the Minister for Economic Planning, the Deputy Prime Minister for Agricultural Affairs and the President of the national oil company "Socar". During the visit, an examination was made of ways to increase economic cooperation with Azerbaijan, which has very significant natural resources, especially oil and natural gas. In all their meetings, the members of the delegation advanced the interests of a number of Israeli companies operating in Azerbaijan, especially in the field of petrochemicals, airport security, electronics and agriculture. President Aliyev told the delegation that he is considering the establishment of a joint economic committee at the ministerial level and would ask several of his economic ministers to visit Israel this year. Prime Minister Rasizada referred to the process of establishing Azerbaijan's diplomatic mission in Israel which is being reconsidered. Presently, Israel's annual exports to Azerbaijan amount to approximately 10 million dollars (not including services) and recently has started purchasing significant amounts of oil from that country.