Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

The German-Azerbaijani business forum dedicated to medical tourism, organized by the German-Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce (AHK Azerbaijan), was held in Baku on April 10.

The event was officially opened by the Executive Director of AHK Azerbaijan, Tobias Baumann.

After the briefing on the event, Economic Attaché of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Azerbaijan Heike Mockel talked about opportunities for cooperation between Germany and Azerbaijan in the medical tourism sector and Germany’s readiness for passing on its knowledge and expertise to the Azerbaijani counterparts.

Germany intends to share its experience in the healthcare sector with Azerbaijan, said Mockel while speaking at the event.

She noted that the two countries have great opportunities for developing cooperation in the healthcare sector, to which the business forum taking place in Baku can contribute.

“German medical institutions can share their experience in introducing new technologies in Azerbaijan, as well as implementing medical tourism projects,” Mockel said.

The Board Member of AHK Azerbaijan and Director of Sahhat clinic, Malik Karimov, made a speech on Germany’s support to Azerbaijan in the health sphere, as well as joint projects and SES (Senior Expert Services) implemented with German companies.

Following the official opening of the forum, Director of Public Health and Reforms Center of the Ministry of Health of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Mammadov informed the participants about the current reforms, state programs and future projects implemented in the medical tourism sector in Azerbaijan. He expressed his confidence that this forum will contribute to making Azerbaijan medical tourism destination for foreign tourists.

Afterwards, Chairman of Azerbaijan Health and Thermal Tourism Support Association Ruslan Guliyev presented opportunities for German-Azerbaijani collaboration in medical tourism. He also mentioned the willingness of association to support the work of the AHK Azerbaijan in this sphere.

At the end of the event, B2B meetings were held between the German and Azerbaijani companies involved in the medical tourism sector.

Speaking to journalists, Tobias Baumann said that Germany is ready to further support measures to diversify Azerbaijan’s economy.

There is decline in trade turnover between Germany and Azerbaijan, he said.

However, Azerbaijan continues large-scale reforms related to economic diversification aimed at creating new industries, he noted.

In this process, Germany provides support to Azerbaijan by supplying high-quality equipment, in particular for the food, polymer and textile industries, he added.

The forum is organized on the occasion of the visit of Berlin clinics specialized in cardiology, neurosurgery and oncology in cooperation with the Berlin Partner for Business and Technology GmbH.

The main purpose of the event was to identify business opportunities for cooperation, to present the activities of German clinics and medical institutions as well as the implementation of digital technologies in health and medical tourism to their Azerbaijani partners.

Representatives of more than 130 companies engaged in medical tourism participated in the business forum.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Germany amounted to about $314 million for the first two months of 2018, according to Azerbaijan’s State Customs Committee.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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