Korea Herald

Sunday, December 19, 2010

YOAV CERRALBO

In just a short amount of time, relations between South Korea and Azerbaijan have grown to levels that were unheard of just a decade ago.

“In our case, as a driving force, rapid and wide economic cooperation actually took place in the meeting between the two heads of states, when nearly 40 documents, aimed at expanding the cooperation in the economic field, were signed,” said Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov to The Korea Herald.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1992 but it was not until the countries exchanged presidential visits in 2006 and 2007 that the relationship grew to where it is today.

Mammadyarov was in town last week for a two-day visit to hold talks with Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik as well as other government officials.

A commission on economic cooperation was established in 2006 and systematically carries out projects of mutual interest but Mammadyarov is looking to expand it to a joint commission where a deeper dialogue on cooperation and pending matters could be discussed.
Trade volume between the two sides increased from around $17 million in 2003 to $859 million in 2008. Last year it decreased because of the global financial crises, “but we believe that this year we will end up with much larger figures.”

Mammadyarov noted that Azerbaijan plays a major role in developing regional projects in different fields, not only in energy, but also in infrastructure, advanced technologies, transport and construction; areas he hopes Korean firms will keep adding to their already healthy presence.

Today, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency and the Korea International Cooperation Agency operate branches in Baku, the capital. There are also a number of well-known Korean companies actively operating in Azerbaijan.

Even though the history between the two countries is relatively short, Mammadyarov believes that Korea and Azerbaijan share a deep and developing relationship.

“Our countries have always demonstrated a keenness to closely coordinate our positions on matters of common interest,” he said.

For the Caspian nation, one ongoing area of political consultation with Korea has to do with the 20-year long “occupation of 20 percent of its territory by neighbor Armenia who practiced ethnic cleansing of almost 1 million people on seized Azerbaijani lands”

Mammadyarov compared their commitment for peace and security in their region as South Korea’s attempts to do the same in Northeast Asia.

The foreign minister is also looking to intensify people-to-people exchanges between the two countries by presenting information on both countries’ cultures and history as well as exchanging cultural days.

“The SEBA (Seoul-Baku) Azerbaijan-Korea Cultural Exchange Association has been making continuous efforts in this direction, as well,” he said.

At the same time, bilateral cooperation in the field of education has developed in recent years with the number of Azerbaijani students studying in Korean universities growing to over 70 individuals.

“Since Azerbaijan and Korean languages come from the same Ural-Altaic language group, there is common interest from both sides to learn more about each other’s languages,” said Mammadyarov.

The Korean language is taught in two universities in Azerbaijan while one local university has been teaching the Azerbaijani language since 2008.

“These are a few elements which we have managed to achieve in a short period of time. It is only the beginning and I strongly believe in a great potential of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Korea,” he said.

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