September 7, 2012

His Excellency Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Azerbaijan

Excellency,

I sincerely congratulate You on occasion of the 20th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Republic of Azerbaijan and Japan.

After the gaining of independence by the Republic of Azerbaijan, the two countries established strong ties of friendship.

Recently, during the Great East Japan Earthquake which took place in March of the last year, many people, headed by His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev, expressed heartfelt sympathy and shared the grief of Japanese people, encouraged and supported us. Once again, I express my gratitude.

Azerbaijan, which possesses rich energy resources in the Caspian sea area, managed to diversify its exports and to achieve a remarkable level of economic growth in recent years, is a contributor to stable development of South Caucasus, and is an important partner of our country. Up to this date we had close dialogues between our country and Azerbaijan, and, the cooperation for the strengthening of your state has continued, and as a result of this, our friendly relations were further developed.

Currently, the two countries are establishing close relations in political and economic spheres. In Particular, regarding the intergovernmental negotiations, according to the agreement that we achieved during the 2009 visit of Your Excellency to Japan, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of both countries regularly hold political consultations, which, in its turn, greatly contributes to the strengthening of relations between the two countries and the facilitation of mutual understanding.

Apart from that, from the economic point of view, Japanese companies have been participating in the development projects of Your country’s oil sector, and, in addition to that, during the recent period of time, there are emerging Japanese companies interested in the development of petrochemical industry, infrastructure modernization and etc., and based on this, I hope that there is a wide possibility for the expansion and development of the economic relations between the two countries.

In the international arena, from this year, I hope for the further development of cooperation between our country and Republic of Azerbaijan, which plays an important role at UN Security Council.

Additionally, the cooperation with Azerbaijan, which assumes the chairmanship in GUAM organization, within GUAM+Japan framework is particularly important. There should be more support to cooperation within this framework, and I am intending to work jointly with Your Excellency to achieve this goal.

Availing myself of the opportunity of the 20th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Republic of Azerbaijan and Japan, I hope for the further deepening and development of relations with Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani people.

I wish health and activity to Your Excellency, and happiness to the people of Azerbaijan.

Yours sincerely,

Koichiro Genba
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan