Moldova, Azerbaijan: new opportunities for co-op (interview)

Gulgiz Muradova, Trend (March 17)

Trend’s exclusive interview with Tudor Ulianovschi, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova.

Excerpt:

Q.: Moldovan parliament recently ratified the Agreement between Government of Moldova and the Government of Azerbaijan on cooperation in the military sector. On what particular fields will this cooperation focus on?

A.: Indeed, during 2017 such an agreement between the two parties was negotiated and signed through diplomatic channels and it recently was ratified by our Parliament. As soon as ratification and other due procedures will be accomplished in the Republic of Azerbaijan it will come into force and become subject of implementation for both countries.

Without going into too much specificity, it is worth mentioning that the agreement is an encompassing one. It establishes the basis for the development of bilateral military contacts, as well as long-term planning and identification of areas of military cooperation between the states - parties.

Accordingly, it envisages some priority areas of cooperation in this sector, among which are consultation and interaction on technical work, personnel training, social, cultural and sports activities in the army, public diplomacy [JB emphasis], issues of peacekeeping operations and humanitarian aid, joint activities under the NATO Partnership for Peace Programme, cooperation within GUAM and other aspects. ...

Q.: What steps can be taken to attract Moldovan tourists to Azerbaijan? What about Azerbaijani travelers? What steps can be effective in increasing the tourist flow in both directions?

A.: For many reasons, and especially from the political, cultural and economic points of view, tourism has always been a very important sector for all countries, including for Azerbaijan and Moldova, and this explains the major attention both states pay to its development. It is our pleasure to acknowledge significant progress achieved in recent years by the Republic of Azerbaijan in its development by building excellent infrastructure, organizing plenty of major international forums and sport events in the capital and other important cities and regions of the country, as well as by finding the best solutions for better exhibiting the richest historical, natural, cultural and architectural sites of Azerbaijan to foreign visitors.

The Republic of Moldova has also taken important steps in order to create all the necessary conditions and incentives for the development of tourism and for the increase of attractiveness of the country for foreign tourists. And we can assure you that Moldova has a lot to show to foreign tourists, including to those from Azerbaijan.

Nevertheless, we also have to recognize that while tourist exchanges between our countries have increased during the last two years, there are a lot of new opportunities and plenty of common work needs to be done in this regard.

We assume that the first and foremost step to be made by our responsible institutions in order to advance in this direction is to revisit and if needed to review the existing agreement on cooperation and ensure its implementation by concrete practical measures. According to the experts, and we agree with them on this, among other joint activities in this respect we should also include exchange of information and best practices in the tourism field between governmental and private tourist agencies, active promotion of the national cultural, historical, natural and touristic sites, organizing reciprocal visits of specialized missions for representatives of tourism agencies and mass media in two countries. ...