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Mexican Ambassador Sees Room For Bilateral Growth With Azerbaijan

By Mushvig Mehdiyev February 15, 2019

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Rodrigo Labardini (R) met with the Head of Azerbaijan State Maritime Administration Gudrat Gurbanov for discussing the ways for cooperation, October 26, 2017, Baku, Azerbaijan / Ardda.Gov.Az

Officials in Mexico are reportedly looking for economic and commercial opportunities to expand cooperation with Azerbaijan.

Mexico’s ambassador in Baku, Rodrigo Labardini, said in a recent interview with Eurasia Diary that Azerbaijan as the largest economic powerhouse of the South Caucasus, and building a bridge with it is very important to Mexico.

“The significant geographical distance between the United Mexican States and Azerbaijan, over 12,000 kilometers, does not hinder bilateral cooperation, but on the contrary, opens a wide range of opportunities for cooperation in various sectors,” Labardini said.

“Azerbaijan is the largest country in the [South] Caucasus, 75 percent of region’s GDP belongs to Azerbaijan, [and] 60 percent of the population is also here. Azerbaijan is not only the door between East and West but also the door to the Caspian Sea and to the Central Asian region.”

After Azerbaijan regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, diplomatic relations were managed through the Azerbaijani embassy in Washington, D.C. and Mexican embassy in Ankara, Turkey. Azerbaijan opened an embassy in Mexico City in 2007.

Mexico’s mission to Azerbaijan is relatively new. In 2014 an embassy opened, and just three years later an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in education, science, youth, culture and sports was signed. By 2018, bilateral trade reached $25 million.

While establishing a mutual ground presence took more than two decades, entrepreneurs have wasted no time in leveraging each countries’ assets. In 2017, a trade mission from Azerbaijan left for Mexico to learn about the business and investment climate in what is today the world’s eleventh richest economy. Mexico, in its turn, sent two trade missions to Azerbaijan, in 2017 and 2018.

“It is very important to make Mexico better known here in Azerbaijan. We are planning to bring more products from Mexico, such as fruits, sweets, tequila, beer and etc.,” Ambassador Labardini told Eurasia Diary. “At the end of April, we will try to bring a commercial mission of tequila producers from Mexico to seat together with Azerbaijani companies dealing with import and distribution [and] try to make ways for cooperation.”

Despite being a Muslim majority country, Azerbaijan is constitutionally secular and permits the selling, purchase and consumption of alcohol.

“We are also planning to talk to some supermarkets to put a Mexican corner where the consumers can find different Mexican souses, chili, sweets with chili, chocolate, tequila, beer and etc.,” Labardini said, who noted that education and energy are two other sectors where increased bilateral relations may be mutually beneficial.

The Mexican Institute of Oil will participate in the 26th Oil and Gas Conference to be held in Baku from May 30-31. High-ranking officials from Mexico’s Ministry of Energy are anticipated to be in attendance.