BILATERAL RELATIONS

Japan recognized the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the 28th of December 1991. The diplomatic relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Japan were established on the 7th of September 1992. Embassy of Japan in the  Republic of Azerbaijan opened on January 21, 2000 and Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Japan opened on October 12, 2005.

H.E. Mr. Teruyuki Katori is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Republic of Azerbaijan. H.E. Mr. Gursel Ismayilzada is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Japan.

High-level Visits

 

24-28 February, 1998                    State visit of H.E. Mr. Heydar Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

7-10 March, 2006                          State visit of H.E. Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

 

From Azerbaijan to Japan

October 1992

Mr. Tofig Gasimov, Foreign Minister (to attend to the Tokyo Conference on Assistance to The New Independent States)

May 1996

Mr. Natig Aliev, President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Mr. Ilham Aliev, Vice President of SOCAR

January 1998

Mr. Artur Rasi-zade, Prime Minister (to attend to the Consultative Group Meeting for Azerbaijan hosted by World Bank)

March 1999

Mr. Abid Sharifov, Deputy Prime Minister (invitation by the private sector)

October 1999

Mr. Abid Sharifov, Deputy Prime Minister (to attend the Japan-Azerbaijan Joint Economic Conference)

June 2001

Mr. Vilayat Guliyev, Foreign Minister (to attend the Three Caucasus States Exhibition)

November 2001

Mr. Abid Sharifov, Deputy Prime Minister (to attend the Japan-Azerbaijan Joint Economic Conference)

May 2005

Mr. Abid Sharifov, Deputy Prime Minister (as the Guest of the Expo 2005 Aichi Japan)

June 2007

Mr. Araz Azimov, Deputy Foreign Minister

February 2008

Mr. Abid Sharifov, Deputy Prime Minister (to attend the Japan-Azerbaijan Joint Economic Conference)

February 2008

Mr. Khalaf Khalafov, Deputy Foreign Minister (political consultations)

February 2009

Mr. Araz Azimov, Deputy Foreign Minister

May 2009

Mr. Misir Mardanov, Minister of Education

June 2009

Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs

July 2012

Mr. Mahmud Mammaq-Quliyev, Deputy Foreign Minister (to attend International Conference on Afghanistan)

October 2012

Mr. Azer Bayramov, Deputy Minister of Finance

December 2013

Mr. Ali Abbasov, Minister of Communications and Information Technologies (working visit)

February 2014

Mr. Abid Sharifov, Deputy Prime Minister (to attend the Japan-Azerbaijan Joint Economic Conference)

February 2014

Mr. Khalaf Khalafov, Deputy Foreign Minister (political consultations)

June 2014

Mayors of the Republic of Azerbaijan (headed by Mr. Huseyn Movsumov, Regional administration and self-governance affairs division, Deputy Director, Presidential Administration)

March 2015

Mr. Ragim Latifov, Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations and Mr. Orujali Hajiyev (to attend UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Management)

April 2015

 

Mr. Ogtay Asadov, Chairman of the Milli Mejlis (Parliament)

August 2015

Mr. Ali Hasanov, Deputy Prime Minister

March 2016

Mr. Ali Hasanov, Assistant to the President for Public and Political Issues, Head of Department 

May 2017

Mr. Samir Sharifov, Minister of Finance of the Republic of Azerbaijan

November 2017

Mr.Khalaf Khalafov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan

February 2018

Mr. Emin Huseynov, Deputy Minister of Finance of the Republic of Azerbaijan 

 

From Japan to Azerbaijan

May 1999

Mr. Masahiko Komura, Minister for Foreign Affairs

October 1999

The Caucasus Friendship Mission (headed by Mr. Taro Nakayama, the member of the House of Representatives)

July 2002

Mr. Seiken Sugiura, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs

February 2003

Mr. Tetsuro Yano, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs

September 2003

Mr. Shoji Motooka, Vice-chairman of the House of Councilors

November 2003

Mr. Ichiro Fujisaki, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs

August 2004

Mr. Akira Amari, member of the House of Representatives (Head of the Japan-Azerbaijan Friendship Association of Members of Parliament)

January 2005

Mr. Ichiro Aisawa, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs

July 2005

Mr. Yoshiaki Harada, member of the House of Representatives

December 2005

Mr. Taishiro Yamagiwa, member of the House of Representatives

July 2006

Ms. Akiko Yamanaka, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs

June 2007

Mr. Mitoji Yabunaka, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs (to attend GUAM Baku Summit of Head of States)

August 2007

Ms. Midori Matsushima, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs

June 2008

Ms. Akiko Yamanaka, member of the House of Representatives

April 2009

Mr. Yasutoshi Nishimura, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs

May 2011

Mr. Hisashi Tokunaga, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs

August. 2013

Mr. Masahisa Sato, Parlamentary Vice-Minister of Defense

April 2014

Mr. Takao Makino, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs

April 2014

Mr. Takeo Hirata, Special Advisor to the Cabinet, Director-general, Office for the Promotion of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympics Games

January 2015

Mr. Minoru Kiuchi, State Minister for Foreign Affairs

April 2015

Mr. Kenichiro Ueno,  Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

May 2015

Mr. Taro Aso, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance (to attend ADB Annual Governors Meeting)

October 2015

Mr. Akira Amari, Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy, Chairman of Japan-Azerbaijan Inter-parliamentary Friendship League

May 2016

Mr. Kazunori TANAKA, Director-General, International Bureau, Liberal Democratic Party

August 2016

Mr. Motome TAKISAWA, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs

February 2017

Mr. Yoshifumi MATSUMURA, State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry

September 2017

Mr. Manabu HORII, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs

March 2018

Mr. Tomohiro Taniguchi, Spesial Avisor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet

 

Bilateral Agreements

In total 26 agreements in different spheres were signed between two countries with some of them mentioned below:

1.Joint Statement on Friendship and Partnership between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Japan. February 26, 1998. Tokyo

2.Joint Statement on Cooperation in the Areas of Trade and Economy between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Japan. February 26, 1998. Tokyo

3.Joint Communiqué on Consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. February 26, 1998. Tokyo

4.Joint Statement on the Further Development of Friendship and Partnership between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Japan. March 10, 2006. Tokyo

5.Agreement on Technical Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of Japan. March 10, 2006. Tokyo

6.Memorandum on Cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. March 10, 2006. Tokyo

Inter-parliamentary relations

Both parliaments have established friendship groups called Azerbaijan-Japan Inter-parliamentary Working Group and Japan-Azerbaijan Inter-parliamentary Friendship League. Mr.Muxtar Babayev is the chairman of Azerbaijan-Japan Inter-parliamentary Working Group.  Mr. Akira Amari is the chairman of Japan-Azerbaijan Friendship League.

Visits by the inter-parliamentary groups

September 2003                            Mr. Shochi Motooka, Vice-chairman of the House of Councilors

28 August-1 September 2004            Mr. Akira Amari, Chairman of Japan-Azerbaijan Inter-parliamentary Friendship League

13-15 December 2005                     Mr. Daichiro Yamagiwa, member of Japan-Azerbaijan Inter-parliamentary Friendship League

 

28 October-4 November  2008           Mr. Abel Maharramov, Chairman of Azerbaijan-Japan Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group, rector of Baku State University

19-25 April 2015                            Mr. Abel Maharramov, as a member of the delegation of the Milli Mejlis headed by Mr. Ogtay Asadov, Chairman of the Milli Mejlis

October 17-18, 2016                      Mr.Muxtar Babayev, chairman of Azerbaijan-Japan Inter-parliamentary Working Group and Mr.Kamran Nabizada, member of the Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan

October 23-27, 2017                      Mr.Muxtar Babayev, chairman of Azerbaijan-Japan Inter-parliamentary Working Group 

Chronology of the bilateral consultations between Ministries of Foreign Affairs:

1. 6 February 2007, Baku

2. 26 June 2007, Tokyo

3. 27 February 2008, Tokyo

4. 12 September 2008, Baku

5. 19 February 2009, Tokyo

6. 19 November 2010, Baku

7. 12 July 2012, Baku

8. 31 January 2013, Baku

9. 27 February 2014, Tokyo

10. May 2016, Baku

11. November 2017, Tokyo

 

Trade and Economic Relations

State Commission on Economic Cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Japan, and Japan-Azerbaijan Economic Committee is the framework representing economic relations between two countries.

Following 8 meetings have been held in the framework of this institution:

  1. 1999, Tokyo
  2. October 30, 2000, Baku
  3. April 28, 2001, Tokyo
  4. November 21-23, 2006, Baku
  5. February 25-26, 2008, Tokyo
  6. May 18, 2010, Tokyo
  7. November 22, 2011, Baku
  8. February 26, 2014, Tokyo
  9. February 23, 2017, Baku

 

Co-chairman of the Commission from the side of Azerbaijan is Mr. Abid Sharifov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Co-chairman from Japanese side is Mr. Yoichi Kobayashi, Senior Adviser of ITOCHU Corporation.

 

Trade turnover between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Japan

(million USD)

 

Year

Import

Export

Trade turnover

2012

243,11

0,96

244,07

2013

288,36

22,56

310,92

2014

240,51

 1,23

241,74

2015

558.1

0.87

558.97

2016

282.653 1.651 284.304

  

   Source: Ministry of Economy and Industry of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Education and culture

Embassy has established ties with the number of universities and research centers of Japan, including Tsukuda University, Waseda University, Gunma Prefectural Women’s University, Keio University, Sophia University, Central Asia and Caucasus Research Institute, Utsunomiya University, Shizuoka Prefectural University, “Shoheijuku” Institute, Hiroshima University - Institute for Peace Studies,  Kobe Shukugawa Qakuin University, “Citizens School” centre, Osaka University and others.

Azerbaijan’s ADA University has established academic exchange with the following universities in Japan:

Ritsumeikan University, Japan

Doshisha University, Graduate School of Global Studies, Japan

Osaka University, Graduate School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Japan

Japanese language are being taught in 3 elementary schools in Azerbaijan, as well as Baku State University and Baku University of Languages.

 

Friendship Exchange

For the first time in the history of Azerbaijan-Japan relations “Friendship Exchange Agreement” was signed  between Ismayilli region of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Ito city of Shizuoka Prefecture of Japan was signed on November 22, 2013.

The notion of friendship exchange is to deepen knowledge and mutual understanding of culture and lifestyle of each other, as well as to create exchanges on people to people contacts and to boos overall cooperation between Azerbaijan and Japan.

Friendship Association

On March 4, 2015 the Friendship Association between Japan and Azerbaijan was established.

The purpose of the association is to promote bilateral educational and cultural exchange, to support business relationship between Azerbaijan and Japan, to leverage economic cooperation between two countries in order to increase the trade turnover, to support the exchanges of visits of the officials of both countries.

 

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