Azerbaijan President Hints at Defense Sector Cooperation with Japan

Shusha, Azerbaijan, July 14 (Jiji Press)–Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has suggested that the country can work with Japan in the defense industry, among other sectors. “I think that we can cooperate in quite a broad range of issues–energy, technology and potentially…the defense industry,” he said at a press conference during a forum meeting in the southwestern Azerbaijan city of Shusha on Monday. The two countries, which are developing their defense industries, “can exchange experience and maybe create some joint manufacturing,” Aliyev added. The number of joint projects between Azerbaijan and Japan has declined compared with five to six years ago, according to Aliyev. Citing the construction of large-scale power plants by Japanese companies in Azerbaijan in the past, Aliyev expressed hope that Japanese investment in his country will increase again. “I think the potential is there, and we need just to have more meetings between government officials, business circles, and companies to identify the additional advantages of cooperation,” he said. Regarding Japan’s energy security, Aliyev said that crude oil from Azerbaijan “has more importance than before” amid the instability in the Middle East situation. In May, Japan imported Azerbaijani crude oil as an alternative to Middle East oil following Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Since 2023, Azerbaijan has held the Shusha Global Media Forum every year both for domestic and foreign journalists, with Aliyev’s press conference serving as a regular event. Shusha is a strategic city in Nagorno-Karabakh, a former disputed region that Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenia in the 2020 military conflict. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]