Azerbaijan pursues a sufficiently balanced foreign policy in the international arena. As a result, dozens of foreign states currently have official representations in our capital. However, there are also countries with which diplomatic relations are established not directly from Baku, but through regional centers such as Ankara, Moscow, and Tehran. That is, the resident embassies of these states are located not in our capital, but in neighboring countries, and they manage processes from afar. At the same time, different and interesting management models in the principles of mutual diplomatic representation also attract attention.
Modern.az presents a comprehensive diplomatic registry covering 146 countries and a map of embassies in Baku.
The list of countries that have permanent operations in Azerbaijan and regulate diplomatic processes directly through their embassies in our capital is quite extensive. From the Asia and Middle East region, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are directly represented in Baku.
From the European continent, Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Great Britain carry out their diplomatic missions from our country.
In addition, states such as Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Libya, Mexico, Morocco, Moldova, Montenegro, Sudan, USA, and Venezuela, covering the American and African continents, also regulate their diplomatic activities through their resident embassies in Baku.
Many states that do not have a permanent representation in official Baku have entrusted diplomatic powers for our country to their ambassadors based in regional centers. In this regard, three main hubs stand out due to their geographical location. Turkey's capital, Ankara, plays the role of the largest diplomatic hub in this area. Thus, the ambassadors of Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Canada, Chad, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Vatican, Ireland, Mauritania, Mongolia, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Slovenia, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Yemen, and Zambia are based in Ankara and are also accredited to Azerbaijan.
The second largest center is Russia. The countries that also manage relations with Azerbaijan through their embassies in Moscow include Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ghana, North Korea, Laos, Mali, Mauritius, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, South Sudan, Uruguay, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.
Our southern neighbor Iran's capital, Tehran, also holds an important place on this regional map. Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Lebanon, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, and Uganda carry out their diplomatic activities through their embassies in Tehran.
Some countries, for geographical and strategic reasons, have preferred different global centers for relations with Azerbaijan. For example, Fiji establishes relations with our country through Beijing, the capital of China; Guyana through Brazil; Malawi through Doha, the capital of Qatar; and the Maldives through New Delhi, the capital of India. For Eswatini, this center is Brussels, the capital of Belgium, and for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, it is London, the capital of Great Britain.
There are also states that manage their diplomatic activities directly from their own country, regardless of any regional center, and curate for Baku. Barbados manages relations with our country from its central office in Miramar Playa, Luxembourg from Luxembourg City, Malta from Valletta, San Marino from San Marino City, and Finland from Helsinki. There is no official accreditation information regarding the specific city where Iceland's embassy for our country is located.
The final geopolitical analysis shows that among Azerbaijan's foreign partners, countries representing the European and Asian continents show more interest in direct representation in our capital. African and Latin American countries, due to both geographical distance and the desire to save financial resources, have included Azerbaijan in their diplomatic maps mainly through their existing offices in the capitals of Turkey and Russia.
Tohfa Samad
