BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 12. Slovenia and Azerbaijan are exploring the ways of expanded cooperation in the sphere of logistics, Marko Štucin, State Secretary for European and Political Affairs, International Law, and the Protection of Interests of Slovenia, said in an exclusive interview with Trend, as he visited Baku.
“The main purpose of my visit was to start preparing for the 30th anniversary of establishing bilateral relationship between Slovenia and Azerbaijan, that we'll celebrate next year. In one-year time, we would like to have some results so that the next year we can mark this anniversary also with concrete results. I met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and other government officials. We discussed how to boost our bilateral relations, including economic cooperation. The main purpose was to go through our bilateral agenda and see where Slovenia and Azerbaijan can cooperate closer in the future,” he said.
Štucin believes that Slovenia and Azerbaijan share some similarities.
“We are both a gateways to our respective regions. Azerbaijan is a gateway to the Caucasus region, Central Asia and wider region. Slovenia is a gateway for Western Balkans, Central Europe. Slovenian port of Koper is one of the biggest ports in this area and it handles goods from all around the world, not only to Slovenia, but also to Austria, to Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, Croatia and all the other countries around. First of all, we would like to see if it's possible to cooperate more in this logistical sector. Secondly, Slovenia last year made the first contract to start buying gas also from Azerbaijan, and we explored the options how to upgrade this also in the future.
Thirdly, when it comes to economic relations, we see a lot of possibilities, a lot of different sectors, including the pharmaceutical sphere. Slovenia is very strong in pharmaceutical industry. Then, for example, IT and artificial intelligence, where we are also very strong, are the areas for potential cooperation. The purpose was to explore all this,” he said.
The state secretary noted that the sides agreed to upgrade this cooperation now with the visit of Slovenian foreign minister to Azerbaijan in the second half of April.
“We will also organize a working group between our two
countries, and this was the purpose of meeting with the Deputy
Minister for Labour and Social Protection, as he is co-chairing
this working group on the Azerbaijani side. This meeting will take
place in March. Then the representatives from different ministries
will go through all the possible topics where the cooperation can
be upgraded,” he added.
Energy cooperation
Štucin noted that energy cooperation is not only about gas, but also green energy and there are possibilities to explore in many different ways of energy when it comes to relationship between Slovenia and Azerbaijan.
“Our Minister for Energy will be present here for the Southern Gas Corridor meeting in April, and at that occasion Slovenia and Azerbaijan will sign Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in energy field, which covers gas and other types of energy. Slovenia is interested to buy more gas from Azerbaijan in the future, because we would like to diversify our sources of energy in Slovenia. As said, we only started to buy gas last year. The quantities are very modest so far, so we would like to explore the possibility how to increase this in the future. Slovenia is buying gas from different sources, such as Algeria, for example, but also from the European market. And Azerbaijan is definitely an opportunity for Slovenian energy providers,” he said.
Slovenian state secretary noted that regarding the green energy sphere, Azerbaijan is working a lot on building capacities for green energy.
“And this is something where also European Union could do more
in enabling the capacities, to get these sources of energy from
Azerbaijan to European Union and that's why we are also as Slovenia
interested in this. Slovenia is going through similar type of
capacity building. We are also improving our capacities, mostly in
solar energy,” he said.
Investment opportunities
Štucin believes that there are many different types of possibilities in the sphere of investments.
“Now if I'm talking about investments to Slovenia, one area is logistics. Slovenian government is investing a lot in capacities. We are building currently a second railway between Port of Koper and inland. We are also building a new tunnel between Slovenia and Austria, but there is opportunity for foreign investors also when it comes to cargo centers and other type of investments in the logistics sector. This is one big topic,” he said.
The state secretary noted that the other important sphere for investments is pharmaceutical.
“In the last couple of years, Slovenia experienced a big interest of the major pharmaceutical companies from around the world, mostly Swiss companies, Novartis or Sandoz. Those are key players that started to invest heavily in Slovenia, opening factories, but also research and development centers. Slovenia has a strong history in pharmaceuticals. For example, we have companies like Krka, which is present here in Azerbaijan for a long time already. This is an area that is growing in Slovenia, and this is an area where the government will also, in the future, want to get more investments from other interested countries. And Azerbaijan, if I understand, is interested in this kind of cooperation. Also, after experiences with COVID-19, this is something that we found out that we would like to avoid such crises in the future and be more prepared,” he explained.
When it comes to Slovenian investments in Azerbaijan, Štucin said here the Slovenian business is still exploring the opportunities.
“Slovenian companies in pharmaceutical sector are already
investing in Azerbaijan. The other spheres are green energy, green
technologies and logistics. But we are still at the beginning and
the working group that I mentioned, will feature discussions among
the experts on this matter,” said the state secretary.
Developing the Middle Corridor
“Middle Corridor is something that is of strategic importance and we agree that beside waterways, land transport is something that we should invest more. Now, if we are realistic, the potential is there, but it's not used yet. When we are talking about Middle Corridor, we are still at the beginning. Slovenian companies are already working on some parts of Middle Corridor,” said Štucin.
He pointed out that there is a Slovenian company very active in Kazakhstan that is building trains.
“Slovenian companies already see this potential and are already
active on many parts of the Middle Corridor in order to increase
the capacity,” added the state secretary.
Tourism and diplomatic relations
Štucin noted that Slovenia and Azerbaijan are very complementary countries.
“Perhaps Slovenia would be an ideal destination for Azerbaijani tourists, with a lot of mountains, green nature and seaside. In Slovenia we have a long tradition in spa tourism, for example Rogaška Slatina is one of the places where Azerbaijani tourists already go. I also have to mention this historical connection between Slovenia and Azerbaijan. There is a symbolic historical event that connects. A war hero from Azerbaijan, Mikhailo (Mehdi Huseynzade) fought for Slovenian freedom during the Second World War. He died in Slovenia during the war. Slovenians remember him, the local communities take care about his grave and the statue. I think people from Azerbaijan also really love Slovenia, the countryside, the touristic places. The similar goes for Slovenians. They love Baku and would also like to discover more of Azerbaijan. We definitely need to open direct flights,” he said.
The state secretary noted that the same goes with the diplomatic representation.
“Azerbaijan is covering Slovenia from Vienna, and we are covering Azerbaijan from Ankara. But it would be even better if we would both have embassies. We didn't take any decisions yet. Usually, those things are connected also with budget, with capacity. Slovenia this year is a member of United Nations Security Council in New York, so we have a lot of our colleagues, diplomats, this year still in New York. That’s why in 2025, it will be difficult to realistically open new embassies for us, but from 2026, why not?” he concluded.
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