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
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October 1992 |
Mr. Tofig Gasimov, Foreign Minister (to attend to the Tokyo Conference on Assistance to The New Independent States) |
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May 1996 |
Mr. Natig Aliev, President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Mr. Ilham Aliev, Vice President of SOCAR |
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January 1998 |
Mr. Artur Rasi-zade, Prime Minister (to attend to the Consultative Group Meeting for Azerbaijan hosted by World Bank) |
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March 1999 |
Mr. Abid Sharifov, Deputy Prime Minister (invitation by the private sector) |
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October 1999 |
Mr. Abid Sharifov, Deputy Prime Minister (to attend the Japan-Azerbaijan Joint Economic Conference) |
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June 2001 |
Mr. Vilayat Guliyev, Foreign Minister (to attend the Three Caucasus States Exhibition) |
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November 2001 |
Mr. Abid Sharifov, Deputy Prime Minister (to attend the Japan-Azerbaijan Joint Economic Conference) |
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May 2005 |
Mr. Abid Sharifov, Deputy Prime Minister (as the Guest of the Expo 2005 Aichi Japan) |
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June 2007 |
Mr. Araz Azimov, Deputy Foreign Minister |
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February 2008 |
Mr. Abid Sharifov, Deputy Prime Minister (to attend the Japan-Azerbaijan Joint Economic Conference) |
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February 2008 |
Mr. Khalaf Khalafov, Deputy Foreign Minister (political consultations) |
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February 2009 |
Mr. Araz Azimov, Deputy Foreign Minister |
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May 2009 |
Mr. Misir Mardanov, Minister of Education |
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June 2009 |
Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs |
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July 2012 |
Mr. Mahmud Mammaq-Quliyev, Deputy Foreign Minister (to attend International Conference on Afghanistan) |
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October 2012 |
Mr. Azer Bayramov, Deputy Minister of Finance |
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December 2013 |
Mr. Ali Abbasov, Minister of Communications and Information Technologies (working visit) |
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February 2014 |
Mr. Abid Sharifov, Deputy Prime Minister (to attend the Japan-Azerbaijan Joint Economic Conference) |
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February 2014 |
Mr. Khalaf Khalafov, Deputy Foreign Minister (political consultations) |
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June 2014 |
Mayors of the Republic of Azerbaijan (headed by Mr. Huseyn Movsumov, Regional administration and self-governance affairs division, Deputy Director, Presidential Administration) |
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March 2015 |
Mr. Ragim Latifov, Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations and Mr. Orujali Hajiyev (to attend UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Management) |
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April 2015
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Mr. Ogtay Asadov, Chairman of the Milli Mejlis (Parliament) |
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August 2015 |
Mr. Ali Hasanov, Deputy Prime Minister |
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March 2016 |
Mr. Ali Hasanov, Assistant to the President for Public and Political Issues, Head of Department |
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May 2017 |
Mr. Samir Sharifov, Minister of Finance of the Republic of Azerbaijan |
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November 2017 |
Mr.Khalaf Khalafov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan |
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February 2018 |
Mr. Emin Huseynov, Deputy Minister of Finance of the Republic of Azerbaijan |
From Japan to Azerbaijan
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May 1999 |
Mr. Masahiko Komura, Minister for Foreign Affairs |
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October 1999 |
The Caucasus Friendship Mission (headed by Mr. Taro Nakayama, the member of the House of Representatives) |
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July 2002 |
Mr. Seiken Sugiura, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs |
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February 2003 |
Mr. Tetsuro Yano, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs |
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September 2003 |
Mr. Shoji Motooka, Vice-chairman of the House of Councilors |
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November 2003 |
Mr. Ichiro Fujisaki, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs |
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August 2004 |
Mr. Akira Amari, member of the House of Representatives (Head of the Japan-Azerbaijan Friendship Association of Members of Parliament) |
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January 2005 |
Mr. Ichiro Aisawa, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs |
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July 2005 |
Mr. Yoshiaki Harada, member of the House of Representatives |
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December 2005 |
Mr. Taishiro Yamagiwa, member of the House of Representatives |
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July 2006 |
Ms. Akiko Yamanaka, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs |
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June 2007 |
Mr. Mitoji Yabunaka, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs (to attend GUAM Baku Summit of Head of States) |
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August 2007 |
Ms. Midori Matsushima, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs |
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June 2008 |
Ms. Akiko Yamanaka, member of the House of Representatives |
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April 2009 |
Mr. Yasutoshi Nishimura, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs |
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May 2011 |
Mr. Hisashi Tokunaga, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs |
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August. 2013 |
Mr. Masahisa Sato, Parlamentary Vice-Minister of Defense |
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April 2014 |
Mr. Takao Makino, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs |
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April 2014 |
Mr. Takeo Hirata, Special Advisor to the Cabinet, Director-general, Office for the Promotion of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympics Games |
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January 2015 |
Mr. Minoru Kiuchi, State Minister for Foreign Affairs |
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April 2015 |
Mr. Kenichiro Ueno, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism |
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May 2015 |
Mr. Taro Aso, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance (to attend ADB Annual Governors Meeting) |
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October 2015 |
Mr. Akira Amari, Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy, Chairman of Japan-Azerbaijan Inter-parliamentary Friendship League |
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May 2016 |
Mr. Kazunori TANAKA, Director-General, International Bureau, Liberal Democratic Party |
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August 2016 |
Mr. Motome TAKISAWA, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs |
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February 2017 |
Mr. Yoshifumi MATSUMURA, State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry |
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September 2017 |
Mr. Manabu HORII, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs |
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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:
- 1999, Tokyo
- October 30, 2000, Baku
- April 28, 2001, Tokyo
- November 21-23, 2006, Baku
- February 25-26, 2008, Tokyo
- May 18, 2010, Tokyo
- November 22, 2011, Baku
- February 26, 2014, Tokyo
- 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.
