On May 22 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Azerbaijan Katsuya Watanabe visited Azerbaijan University of Languages (AUL).

The rector of AUL Academician Kamal Abdulla expressed his pleasure to see the ambassador at the university.  It was noted that economic, political, scientific and cultural relations between Azerbaijan and Japan have been developing rapidly in recent years. It was noted that AUL has achieved great success in establishing international relations: «We hope that during your stay in Azerbaijan, ties with our university will deepen and expand. We want to establish direct scientific and cultural links with a Japanese university. The establishment of these links is important for the study of new scientific practices, the conduct of teacher and student exchange programmes. I would also like to point out that our university has centres for the language and culture of foreign countries, and some universities have parallel centres of Azerbaijani language and culture. It would be good if we had a relationship with one of the universities of Japan and the opportunity to popularize the Azerbaijani language and culture there. There are more than twenty-five foreign languages taught in AUL. One of the most important among them is Japanese. Our students are very interested in Japanese language and culture. Currently fifty-five students study in Japanese. This interest grows from year to year. At the same time, the Center for Japanese Studies, operating at AUL, has close ties with the Embassy of Japan in Azerbaijan. Representatives of the Embassy take an active part in the activities of the Centre.  Young future Japanologists of the Azerbaijan University of Languages take part in events, organized by the Embassy».

Expressing gratitude for the warm welcome and hospitality, the Ambassador expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome and stressed that he was ready to cooperate closely with the university in all directions. Speaking about the development of scientific, economic and cultural relations between Azerbaijan and Japan, the diplomat noted that there are favorable opportunities for scientific cooperation between the two countries.

It was noted, that in recent years Azerbaijan has made great strides in the field of science and education, as in all other spheres.