Azerbaijan and Switzerland celebrate 30 years of diplomatic relations

Baku, 26 January 2022 (TDI): On January 21, Azerbaijan and Switzerland celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between both. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan shared a message via Twitter, to congratulate their Swiss counterparts.

The Ministry then added that Azerbaijan looks forwards to further developing their mutual relations; and also cooperation between both.

AZERBAIJAN-SWITZERLAND DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS 

Switzerland recognized Azerbaijan to be independent in December 1991. Then the two countries established formal diplomatic relations in 1992.

In 2005, Azerbaijan finally opened its Embassy in Bern. On the other side, Switzerland first opened a cooperation office in Baku in 2001, and in 2007 they started on their Embassy. The official date that they opened the Embassy to start to perform its duties was in May 2008.

Currently, both countries enjoy good political and economic relations based on a broad range of common interests. Some of the key aspects in their relations are cooperation in international financial institutions, development cooperation, and energy policy.

Furthermore, Switzerland deems it very important to promote good governance and private sector development in Azerbaijan. Since 1999, Switzerland started to engage in technical and economic cooperation with Azerbaijan.

AZERBAIJAN-SWITZERLAND ECONOMIC COOPERATION

First, in the economic cooperation, the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs remarks how the economic trade between them stands. The Ministry mentioned that Azerbaijan is Switzerland’s main trading partner in the South Caucasus.

Moreover, among the products that Switzerland exports to Azerbaijan are jewelry (precious stones, precious metals), machinery, watches, security printing products, and pharmaceutical products.

Furthermore, in 2019, the trade between them stood at CHF 287 million, a year-on-year increase of CHF 50 million. According to the Ministry, Switzerland is one of the largest investors in the non-oil sector and also supports Azerbaijan’s efforts to diversify its economy.

Regarding the construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), one Swiss company is involved. Furthermore, operators of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline had the expectation of starting its operations of transporting natural gas to Italy by the end of 2020.

On the other side, an Azerbaijani state-owned energy company SOCAR has a subsidiary in Switzerland. The Ministry then mentioned that in 2012, SOCAR Energy took over ESSO Switzerland’s network of 172 petrol stations.

MUTUAL COOPERATION IN EDUCATION, RESEARCH, AND INNOVATION

Regarding this topic of cooperation, the Ministry mentioned that Azerbaijani researchers can apply for Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships to the State Secretariat for Education Research and Innovation (SERI).

DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

Switzerland has a strong presence in Azerbaijan regarding development. According to the Ministry, Switzerland promotes five general areas that have a great influence on development.

The first one is the promotion of a more favorable business environment, including a better investment climate. Then it’s the promotion of a modern, transparent financial sector. The third one is to promote better public services and governance.

The fourth one is the promotion of the economic empowerment of women. Then we have the promotion of local art and culture.

CULTURAL EXCHANGES BETWEEN BOTH, AND SWISS CITIZENS IN AZERBAIJAN

Switzerland also plays an important part when it comes to cultural exchanges. Furthermore, the Swiss embassy supports and participates in various projects and events to promote Switzerland and Swiss culture.

Among the events that the Embassy organizes, we can find the film festivals, the ‘Francophonie week’ and the “Settimana della lingua Italiana”. Finally, the Ministry mentioned that in 2019, 32 Swiss citizens were living in Azerbaijan.

HIGH-LEVEL POLITICAL DIALOGUE AND OFFICIAL VISITS OF AZERBAIJANI OFFICERS

Azerbaijan and Switzerland have a high-level political dialogue, and they hold regular meetings of heads of state as part of the annual meetings of the World Economic Forum in Davos; and also bilateral contacts at the parliamentary level, at the level of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and individual ministries.

Moreover, the dialogue generated several opportunities that created a good basis for co-operation between our countries in economic, humanitarian, and other fields. The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has visited Switzerland several times.

As mentioned previously, Aliyev’s visits to Switzerland have been to be part of the World Economic Forum in Davos on 16-19 January 2017; 16 October 2017; 23-26 January 2018; 22-25 January 2019 and also 20-24 January 2020.

The President of the Council of Cantons of the Swiss Confederation, Jean-Rene Fournier, visited Azerbaijan in 2019. The Azeri Minister, Jeyhun Bayramov, has also visited Switzerland in 2020.

According to the Ministry, the Azerbaijani-Swiss Working Group for Inter-Parliamentary Relations has then been active in the Milli Majlis since 2006; under the leadership of Hijran Huseynova.

The Swiss Parliament also has a friendship group with Azerbaijan, chaired by Yves Nidegger. Furthermore, currently, both countries have a total of twenty-eight documents signed to strengthen their bilateral relations.

ECONOMIC RELATIONS 

Cooperation in the energy and technology area has a special place in their mutual relations, as mentioned before. Moreover, Azerbaijan and Switzerland signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Energy Cooperation to expand their relations.

Also, the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan then released the trade turnover between the two countries since the year 2016. Shown below: 

Later, both countries based their economic and trade cooperation on Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation signed in 2000. Furthermore, the first meeting of the Joint Trade Commission was held three years later.