During his stay from 8 to 9 July, Federal Councillor Schneider-Ammann held separate meetings with President Ilham Aliyev, Minister of Economy Shahin Mustafayev and Minister of Finance Samir Sharifov. The sides discussed ongoing economic developments in both countries and in particular Azerbaijan's role and impressive efforts to become a regional logistic and transport hub. In this regard, the two sides exchanged views over the prospects of cooperation in trade and investment in a number of various economic fields and sectors, including healthcare and education.

Following the meeting with Minister Shahin Mustafayev, both Ministers of Economy attended a bilateral Business Forum. This event was organzied by AZPROMO in the presence of a large number of business people. Presentations were held by Azerbaijan’s Investment and Promotion and by "economiesuisse", the largest umbrella organization representing the Swiss economy in support of more than 30’000 businesses of all sizes. The following B2B meetings sucessfully finished the morning program before Federal Councillor Schneider-Ammann and the economic mission headed to Sumgayit to pre-inaugurate the new SIKA factory (see separate article).