The Azerbaijan Translation Centre under the Cabinet of Ministers (AzTC) on Tuesday received a visit from the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Austria Axel Wech, for a roundtable discussion on intercultural relations with its Director Afag Masud.

After greeting the Austrian diplomat, AzTC Director Masud spoke about AzTC's past and upcoming projects on Austrian Literature:  "We have priority for Austrian literature always. AzTC did pioneer the first translation and publication of works by Franz Kafka in Azerbaijan in 1991. We did this work without any external funding, as a sign of our infinite love for this remarkable writer's personality and creativity. We have translated and published in a book format and/or in Khazar world literature magazine works by several other representatives of Austrian literature -Stefan Zweig, Rhainer Maria Rilke, Jura Soyfer, Peter Handke, and Oscar Yellinek. The anthology of Austrian literature has been already translated into Azerbaijani and is due for publication. Today, we are taking certain steps to promote Azerbaijan literature in Austria. In 2007, when I visited Vienna at the invitation of the Austrian Cultural Forum and I went to a salon where literature stands were exhibited. The fact that there were different stands from almost all countries, except for Azerbaijan, deeply disappointed me. Azerbaijan is rich in fine literary samples that can stand side-by-side with world literary heritage, and we aim to promote our national literature in cooperation with best specialists of literary translation and native speakers. All boundaries between peoples and nationalities, religious and racial differences are virtually powerless when it comes to literature. Therefore, there's not such notions like "boundary" and "nationality" in world literature," she said.

Ambassador Axel Wech,, in turn, thanked Afag Masud for the invitation, and said all above mentioned points were of great importance in strengthening ties between the two countries.

"Intercultural exchanges contribute to friendly relations between peoples and nations.  

I am very pleased to hear that the Austrian literature has won your heart. I highly appreciate your upcoming projects in this field. The Embassy will do its best to support AzTC to popularize Azerbaijan literature in Austria and boost mutual relations with Austrian masters of literary translation. I believe involving the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Austria will facilitate this work," the diplomat added. 

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