BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 5. Azerbaijan wants to "reinvigorate" bilateral relations with the Philippines in various fields such as culture, tourism, trade and energy, Elnur Mammadov, Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, said in an interview with The Manila Times, Trend reports.
"The signing the first intergovernmental document between the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts is the main purpose of our visit. But, of course, this is also a chance for us to reinvigorate our relations after the pandemic," he said.
Mammadov noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had a "negative impact" on the development of Azerbaijan's bilateral relations with many countries, "especially with states that are geographically quite distant from our region".
"So, from that perspective, we believe it's a very good chance for us to have face-to-face [meeting] to discuss both our bilateral and multilateral agenda and also the developments in our region where the Philippines is located," he added.
The deputy minister added the first round of the consultation will present the "bird's-eye view of all the areas" of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and the Philippines.
"But the second round, next round of political consultations will most likely have more detailed discussions around those issues," he said.
Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Elnur Mammadov visited the Philippines Republic on April 3-5.
On April 4, political consultations were held for the first time between the two foreign ministries. The political consultations were conducted by Deputy Minister Mammadov and Undersecretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Theresa Lazaro.
Following the consultations, the sides signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of culture between the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Republic of the Philippines", the first intergovernmental document between Azerbaijan and Philippines.