On January 26, 2023, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received the credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mexico to Azerbaijan, Maria Victoria Romero Caballero. The newly appointed ambassador in an interview with Report spoke about the dynamics of the development of bilateral cooperation between Mexico and Azerbaijan.
Report presents this interview to its readers:
- Madam Ambassador, how do you assess the political cooperation between Azerbaijan and Mexico?
I arrived in Azerbaijan in December last year and in January I presented credentials to President Ilham Aliyev as Ambassador of Mexico. This time has given me the opportunity to get acquainted with the country and assessed what needs to be done to strengthen our relations and start a new phase of friendship and partnership. We have a good understanding between the two countries on a bilateral basis and had successfully cooperated in multilateral forums on issues of mutual interest.
We have a strong political dialogue between our ministries of foreign affairs. We will soon have political consultations to discuss priorities that will define the future of our collaboration for the next few years, we are now working on the best strategy to do this. These consultations will take place in Mexico City and I will be happy to brief you on the outcome of this important meeting.
As for the parliamentary dialogue, it has been quite successful over the last few years. In February we received the visit of a group of Mexican legislators with an agenda oriented to improving economic ties, including trade and investments, and they also stressed the need to implement academic cooperation as well. The congress member met with their Azerbaijani counterparts and made commitments to advance collaboration and to pass from words to deliverables that benefit both our countries and societies. Hopefully, we will have a continuous exchange of visits to and from Mexico and Azerbaijan.
Our countries are far away, but we feel a certain closeness as we share common values. Our people are proud of their cultural heritage, we would be attentive to continue working on mutual knowledge. We can reach this goal by increasing the exchange of people, from official nature but as well from tourists.
- What have you identified as a priority for the period of your mission as ambassador to Baku?
Before arriving in Baku, I identified several priorities that are reflected in my work program as the ambassador of Mexico to Azerbaijan. First, to strengthen the political dialogue at different levels, including cooperation between the parliaments of both countries.
We also need to continue promoting multilateral partnerships, we support each other on certain issues being discussed at different international forums, including mutual support of initiatives when possible.
One of the most important priorities for me is to increase economic cooperation by advancing trade and investment. We still have modest figures in this area. We want to improve these numbers.
During the first months of work in Baku, I dedicated myself to promoting and advancing interinstitutional cooperation in order to start an organized exchange of students and teachers. I was surprised to see that we do not have such exchanges, now we are trying to connect Mexican and Azerbaijani universities. Azerbaijan has plenty of top higher education institutions with excellent programs, that can facilitate successful cooperation with their Mexican counterparts.
In addition, the implementation of a comprehensive cultural program is a priority. We are planning the visit of Mexican artists to Azerbaijan. Next year, the embassy will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its opening in Baku, which will give us the opportunity to organize several events.
Another important tool of my diplomatic mission is public diplomacy through social media. We are trying to promote our activities and projects with this tool aiming at widening mutual knowledge of our societies. We started two campaigns to promote both countries:
#LeleEnBakú – the first one promotes a Mexican traditional doll Lele, made by female artisans, which is traveling around Azerbaijan, and the second
#InspiringWomen – aims at weekly recognizing the contribution of outstanding female figures in the history of our countries.
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- What are your first impressions of Baku, Azerbaijan? What did you like here the most?
The Azerbaijani people are incredibly welcoming and generous. I was pleasantly surprised to see such kindness. I get the feeling that I am at home here, I feel that way. You don’t feel like this everywhere. In this sense, Azerbaijan has become a special country for me. I have not yet had the opportunity to travel to the regions, but I plan to do so in the coming months.
The culture of Azerbaijan is fascinating. I myself belong to a culture that also has a rich heritage, and I see the same in Baku. Here history coexists with modernity. Baku is a cosmopolitan city.
Baku also has traffic jams that remind me of my city.
We make a great team with colleagues from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, I also have a good dialogue with the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Mexico, and we exchange views on a regular basis.
- In what economic areas can our countries intensify their cooperation? Are Mexican business circles interested in investing in Azerbaijan, especially in the Karabakh region?
The level of trade has been growing, especially after the opening of the Mexican embassy in Baku. We are trying to increase these figures. We want to expand the choice of Mexican goods in the local supermarkets. On the other hand, when I presented credentials to President Ilham Aliyev, we talked about areas that need to be reinforced in the economic area. A sphere of mutual interest is oil and green energy.
The development of the liberated territories in 2020 is advancing, we need to discuss strategies to start collaboration, investments, and good practices exchange with Mexico. We have companies that could have a presence in Azerbaijan. We would also like to see investments from Azerbaijani companies in the Mexican economy.
As for the green agenda, Mexico has projects for the construction of the biggest solar plant in Latin America. We also pursue projects related to manufacturing electric vehicles.
My goal is to facilitate the exchange of economic and trade delegations between Mexico and Azerbaijan. This is what we will try to focus on.
- Mexican resorts are among the most visited in the world. After the pandemic, the tourist flow has recovered. Is there a demand from Azerbaijani citizens to visit Mexico? How many visas were issued in 2022?
After the pandemic, we witness an increase in the number of Azerbaijani tourists to Mexico. This rise was facilitated by the opening of a flight connecting Azerbaijan and Mexico through Turkish Airlines. It's a long flight, as well as family trips made by representatives of the tourism sector. There is a high demand for visas from Azerbaijani tourists to visit my country. Last year we issued over 650 visas, which is a lot compared to pre-pandemic years.
Another priority is to encourage Mexican tourists to come to Baku not only for Formula 1 but also to see what the country offers. We will have events dedicated to the promotion of knowledge about Mexico in Azerbaijan. Of course, it has to go both ways, because our knowledge of each other is still very limited.
We have a wide number of sites from historical ones to top beach resorts like Cancun. Of course, any visit to the country should include the capital, Mexico City, too. It is a huge metropolis with a population of over 22 million but definitely worth a visit.
- How do you assess the role of Azerbaijan in the Pacific Alliance? How can countries cooperate within this organization?
The Pacific Alliance is a collaboration mechanism that works very well. One can see that this partnership works as the “one roof agreement”, in which the embassies of Chile, Colombia, and México share premises, like in Baku. Under this arrangement, one country hosts other members of the alliance. Other examples of the shared roof are in Singapore and Ghana. Azerbaijan’s participation in the Pacific Alliance, like all other observers, is assessed positively as it allows it to contribute to thematic committees where all observers can interact within the Pacific Alliance membership.
- Azerbaijan and Mexico are geographically distant from each other. What steps does the embassy plan to take so that people in Azerbaijan learn more about the culture and traditions of Mexico and vice versa? What social and cultural events does the embassy plan to organize in 2023?
The cultural part is very important for achieving our common goals of cooperation. I am very happy that our ideas are well received among our authorities in Mexico, like the #LeleInBaku campaign, which serves as the start of a worldwide campaign of Mexican embassies and consulates around the world with the theme of “Lele traveling around the world”.
Now the doll is our ambassador in Baku, and Mexicans can see and learn more about your capital. This is a good way to promote both countries, a win-win promotion.
We are also planning to organize an exhibition of 12 paintings depicting indigenous clothing showing the life and way of life of communities in the south of Mexico. Thanks to the collaboration of the Mexican embassy in Denmark we start our art collection in Baku.