The multivectorial foreign policy of the Republic of Azerbaijan
October 19, 2018
Academic session conducted by Leyla Abdullayeva and Rashad Aslanov and jointly organized by the Euro-Asian contemporary Studies Group. Moderator: Ambassador Lila Roldán Vázquez, coordinator of the Euro-Asian Affairs Committee
Written by Carla Gebetsberger and Matthias Garcia de Cruz
The academic session was conducted by the Ambassador Roldán Vázquez, in commemoration of the centenary of the Azeri Republic and the 25th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Argentina. She highlighted the importance of this kind of events as a way to strengthen ties and share experiences between the two countries.
Leyla Abdullayeva, the Azeri representative, highlighted the importance of fostering the knowledge about Central Asia in Latin America and especially in Argentina. In this sense, she shared some important features of the Azeri Republic: "Being the first democratic and secular republic in the Islamic world, Azerbaijan has progressively developed its republican’s institutions and strengthened its diplomatic relations with numerous countries".
She also argued that, nowadays Azerbaijan has the commitment to build an independent foreign policy, which is one of the main challenges for small states surrounded by powerful nations. In this regard, the main reason for strengthening this issue is for achieving an independent domestic economy. This strategic point of view is part of a national plan centred in the production of energetic resources, used in a rationalized way, and exported to several countries. In addition, she stated that Azerbaijan has developed an important network to export energy between the Mediterranean and the Caspian Sea, a unique event in history. Abdullayeva, also affirmed that in order to diversify the Azeri economy, the country has developed the areas of transport and agriculture.
Historically its location and resources have suggested Azerbaijan to generate cautious politics to guard a regional equilibrium. That is shown by the intense cooperation of the country with human rights organizations. From the beginnings of the Twentieth Century, some of the challenges of Azerbaijan implicated to intervene in Armenia, which slowed the investment and impeached the growth of the economy. Today some tensions still exist, like the separatist province of North Karabaj.
To conclude, the speaker highlighted the particularity of Azerbaijan, a country in the middle of eastern and western values, which promotes individualism and liberty, but also has strong traditional values. This unique characteristic gives the country a unique perspective, and has helped to come closer with different states such as Argentina.
The next speaker was the ambassador of Azerbaijan Rashad Aslanov. He continued to highlight key points of Azerbaijan foreign policy and its bilateral relation with Argentina, and how to improve political cooperation, economic discussion and academic exchange.
In conclusion, regarding the political cooperation he outlined that "there are two main lines of discussion: the first one is through the Foreign Affairs Ministry, and the other, is through the Parliament". In the economic domain, he urged the need to generate new and more dynamic dialogues to find common points on energetic production and transport development. He defended the current politic, which promotes more cultural exchanges and brings together their cultural heritage.
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