Ashraf Shikhaliyev is the ambassador of Azerbaijan to India. He also holds concurrent accreditation to Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka. Shikhaliyev was in Kathmandu last week to attend Nepal Infrastructure Summit 2022. Kamal Dev Bhattarai caught up with him to talk about the bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Nepal and possible areas of cooperation between the two countries. How do you evaluate Nepal-Azerbaijan relations?  Relations between the two countries are developing mainly in international and multilateral forums. In the United Nations, we have excellent relations. Nepal is a founding member of the non-alignment movement and Azerbaijan is the current chair of this movement. So, we have excellent cooperation in our delegations and other areas.  On the bilateral front, we have good relations that we need to build on further. We need to expand economic cooperation, for example. Both countries are land-locked and depend on transit countries. That is why for landlocked countries like ours cooperation in the areas of information communication technology is important. In these areas, borders do not matter and we can do cooperation. We can cooperate particularly in the areas of electronic governance. This is an era of digitalization and every country is paying attention to building infrastructure for it. We have made some achievements in Azerbaijan, and we are willing to share them with Nepal if they are interested.

What is the current state of trade relationship between the two countries? 

The economic collaboration between the two countries is very minimal. This is because of geography. The two countries are land-locked and there is a huge distance separating them. But we have to start with something. The realistic sector where we can collaborate is information and communication technologies, and e-governance. Nepal needs investment to develop its infrastructure, are there any prospects of cooperation from Azerbaijan?  As I said, we can begin with cooperation in the area of information technology first. We can then move on to infrastructure development. Azerbaijan has many good companies with vast experience in big infrastructure projects, such as building large international airports. Those companies can come to Nepal for the development of infrastructure. Development of infrastructure is important for every country and Azerbaijan is keen to contribute to the development of infrastructure in Nepal. Could you share with us about the ASAN service of your country that won the United Nations award?  State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations known as ASAN is a brand name in Azerbaijan, which we are extremely proud of. This is implemented under the president of our country. The basic concept of this project is to make the life of people easier in service delivery. ASAN service was created in 2012 and three years later, it won the United the best service award from the United Nations. The project was picked from among 800 nominees from all over the world. It has been lauded for its transparency, making service convenient to all, and for its role in combating corruption. People are fully satisfied with the service. The project united our 10 ministries as well as some private companies to provide services under the umbrella of ASAN. Every service it offers is transparent and quick. There are volunteers who check the quality of service and they assist the people. For example, if you need to renew your license, the process does not take more than 10 minutes. Acquiring a passport, getting a visa or any other services are also equally swift and easy. Can Azerbaijan assist Nepal to launch such a project? We are ready to share our experiences with Nepal to create a similar project in Nepal. In 2019, the ASAN delegation visited Nepal and made their presentations. In 2020, we shared a draft of a Memorandum of Understanding proposing to work together in this area with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But we did not hear anything from the Nepali side. We are always willing to share our experiences and assist Nepal.