The Azerbaijani-Swiss political consultations to be held

Baku/01.03.19/Turan: Swiss Deputy Secretary of State Christina Martins will visit Azerbaijan next week for bilateral consultations with the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, said today at the press conference by Swiss Ambassador to Azerbaijan Philip Stalder.

The talks will discuss prospects for bilateral relations, regional issues, the Karabakh conflict, the development of civil society. The Ambassador stressed that the issues of civil society activities are always present in the negotiations of the two countries.

Stalder pointed to the mutual significance of such a meeting and noted that this would also be an opportunity to present the tourism potential of Azerbaijan.

Regarding the development of cultural cooperation, the ambassador noted that one could learn about joint activities from the embassy page on facebook. He noted with satisfaction that this page, created at the end of last year, had already gained 2 thousand subscribers.

Asked what contribution Switzerland could make to the resolution of the Karabakh conflict, the ambassador recalled that in this country the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia had already met three times and noted their readiness to provide such an opportunity for negotiations.

Stalder also reported on a regional meeting planned in the near future in Baku by ambassadors of Switzerland in the countries of Central Asia, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, etc.

Deputy Ambassador Simon Heiberly, in turn, focused on technical cooperation between the two countries. If at the beginning of the cooperation more concerned the provision of humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons, as the economic opportunities of Azerbaijan expanded, the situation changed. Collaboration now concerns advisory support for economic reform and private sector development. Thus, experts provide consulting services in the development of financial reporting, public debt management, transparency in the use of public resources, etc.

There is also support for women's entrepreneurship. After 10 days, the Resource Center for promoting women who want to start a business will be opened, where they can receive information and advice. The total amount of technical assistance for 20 years amounted to 91 million dollars.

As for the further investments of Swiss companies, according to the ambassador, such 20 companies operate in Azerbaijan.

Last year, a representative delegation of Swiss business circles came to Azerbaijan and discussed possible areas of cooperation. As the ambassador noted, the Swiss business prefers to work where there is a competitive environment, stable implementation of laws, the rule of law.

Stalder said that this is his last press conference in this quality and he will leave Azerbaijan before the summer, completing the 4-year diplomatic mission. -06D--