Baku, April 28, AZERTAC

An Azerbaijan-Iran business forum was held at the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku on April 28.

Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Masoud Pezeshkian, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, attended the event.

The President of Azerbaijan delivered a speech at the forum.

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev

- Dear Mr. President, my dear brother.

Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen.

Today is the official visit of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mr. Pezeshkian, to Azerbaijan. I can say that the visit has been very successful. The agreements reached and the documents signed during the visit once again confirm the Azerbaijani-Iranian friendship and brotherhood. In short, this official visit has very good political results. Among the signed documents, I would like to specifically mention the Joint Declaration signed by the presidents. It is a very serious document, a document that guides us towards future cooperation. Of course, we would like our trade and economic cooperation to produce the same results. Unfortunately, this has not been the case so far. However, I am sure that after this visit and based on the results of the business forum, we will see serious progress in trade, economy, investment, and other such areas in the coming years. I am delighted that a large business delegation has come to Azerbaijan along with the esteemed Mr. President. More than 120 business people from Iran, I am sure, have already established contacts with their counterparts in Azerbaijan, and real projects will emerge as a result of the business forum.

I am sure that the next time we hold a business forum, this hall will be completely full. However, the number of representatives is not small now either. There are more than 400 participants in the business forum. This shows that mutual interest is quite high. Of course, when political relations are strong, business circles also structure their activities accordingly, and I do believe that tangible steps should be taken to increase trade in the coming years. Today, when we look at statistical figures, we see that trade between our two countries does not reach a single billion dollars, and of course, we can’t be pleased with that. Therefore, increasing trade and mutual investment, creating joint ventures, and other similar initiatives will certainly be commendable. I believe that the leading role here belongs to the Azerbaijan-Iran intergovernmental commission. I highly appreciate the activities of the commission. The co-chairs and members of the commission meet regularly, and each meeting is of great importance.

Azerbaijan and Iran are also participating in important international projects, including the North-South transport corridor, on which we are closely cooperating. We want this to be not just a transport corridor, but to create opportunities for opening new businesses and creating new industrial enterprises along the way, both in Azerbaijan and Iran. There are ample opportunities for this because both countries have tremendous economic potential, and the entrepreneurial class in both countries is quite active. Simply put, we need to bring our business people together, as we are doing today. They need to be introduced to specific projects. The tax system of our countries, tariffs, investment climate, legislation in the field of business – all this should be clear to business people of both countries. What are the procedures? What are the laws? After that, of course, we can talk about major investments. I do believe that after a long break, holding such a prestigious meeting of Azerbaijani and Iranian business people, especially a business forum with the participation of the presidents, is a very serious step. Of course, we expect specific results from our business people.

The government of Azerbaijan is implementing many infrastructure projects. We invite Iranian companies to participate in these projects. Railways, highways, communication lines, power lines – all these projects are on our agenda today. At the same time, extensive construction work is currently underway in the territories liberated from Armenian occupation. We are building villages and cities almost from scratch. During the occupation, Armenia razed all our cities and villages to the ground. That is why extensive job opportunities are emerging there, and I would like business people from Iran, our friendly and brotherly country, to work in this direction as well.

Among the issues we discussed today, we also paid great attention to the issues of electric power. This includes not only the construction of power plants but also the construction of transmission lines. Good opportunities are being created for companies with experience in this field. In the future, we can also consider energy exchange projects between the two countries in both bilateral and multilateral formats – together with neighboring countries. More precisely, this is already one of the issues on the agenda today. The process of producing green energy in Azerbaijan has already begun, and it has a great future. In five years, we will unlock our solar, wind, and hydropower potential of 6,500 megawatts, and most of this is export-oriented energy. Of course, preparations should be carried out in this direction now. At the same time, the Araz corridor project attracts great attention. There are various assumptions and rumors about this project both in our region and in the world. There is actually no basis for this. Because this is simply a new transport and connectivity project, it is a project connecting the main part of Azerbaijan with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic through the territory of Iran. At the same time, great transit opportunities will be created here. This is not just a project for this region. We believe that this should be a branch of the transport corridor stretching from Asia to Europe. There should be a new transport connectivity corridor stretching to the Mediterranean Sea on one side and the Persian Gulf on the other, and many countries will benefit from that. Of course, the main role in the implementation of this project still falls on our countries, and the work carried out by Azerbaijan in this direction is almost complete. The construction of a bridge over the Araz River on the Azerbaijani side is almost complete, including the construction of the border checkpoint. If everything goes to plan, the highway bridge can be put into operation by the end of this year.

As for the railway bridge, this issue is also on the agenda. We can already bring our railway to the Iranian border next year, in the Zangilan-Aghband direction, and naturally, if the construction of a railway on Iranian territory is also envisaged, then this will also be an international transport corridor. So, very broad prospects are opening up, and there are key factors for implementing all this. First, the friendship between Azerbaijan and Iran; second, mutual political will; and third, the fact that these projects serve many countries and provide mutual benefit. This is a project that is one of the key issues.

Of course, the development of small and medium-sized businesses has always been in our spotlight, and I believe that business circles, Azerbaijani and Iranian business people, will correctly perceive these messages from the leadership, i.e. from the political leadership, and, guided by this in their activities, will further strengthen our trade and economic relations through specific steps. I do hope that the next time we meet here, this hall will be completely full.

Welcome again, esteemed Mr. President and my dear brother.

I also welcome our esteemed Iranian friends. Thank you.

X X X

Then, the President of Iran made a speech.

Speech by President Masoud Pezeshkian

- I would like to express my gratitude once again to the esteemed President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, my dear brother Mr. Ilham Aliyev, for the hospitality extended to us, for the warm welcome we have received, and for the encouraging statement regarding the constructive continuation of our mutual relations. We are here at your service and believe that our relations are as they were before – we have been together anyway. The border between us is like the border between neighbors and families: each has a wall and a door on one side, but they are always together, see each other, and have relations with each other. We must help each other, mutually share our achievements, production, science, and culture for the Azerbaijani people and the Iranian people, benefit from that, and create an environment where both sides will win.

As my dear brother has emphasized, Azerbaijan and Iran, as countries located at the crossroads of transport routes, can implement the key transport corridors and routes between us – the North-South and East-West transport routes between us and Russia. This creates the necessary conditions for the development of trade, science, experience, and technology.

In my meetings with the leaders of many of our neighboring countries, I have always brought up this idea. This was always on my mind even during my student years. Why don't we travel together by train from Pakistan to Iran, Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. After all, what is the problem in creating these relations with each other in a comfortable way?

Muslim countries with similar culture and civilization, ancient history, and kinship ties – all our neighbors have had relations with each other for several millennia – why don't we create a favorable environment for such relations? The first step to creating such an environment begins with trade, culture, and science. Our universities can establish contacts with each other, share the experience they have gained in the fields of science, technology, and culture. Let our people engaged in the fields of trade and industry transfer their experience in these areas to each other for the benefit of the region and ourselves. The market that exists in our region meets our needs and can meet the needs of the whole world. This market is for Iran, for Azerbaijan, for Pakistan, for Afghanistan. We can create such a market for ourselves, and it depends on our will. Our business people, traders, dear business people in Azerbaijan, should join hands with each other and make joint investments. We in Azerbaijan, you in Iran, we and you in Iraq, Pakistan, and the Pakistanis with us, i.e. we can create a union with close ties with each other. We can open our own paths, we can transfer our own technology, experience, and science to each other. We can create a future of prosperity, peace, stability, development, and freedom for ourselves, for our region, and for our societies. We can protect the security of the region ourselves. We do not need anyone else to come and create security for us. Our elders have sat together and resolved problems and disagreements themselves. I do not believe that there should be disagreements at the top level; there are some at the bottom, and, of course, they are also provoked from abroad. They do not want healthy relations to be established between neighboring countries with the same culture and traditions and in the region. We should not allow the healthy relations existing between us with a long history to be disrupted and deteriorated by others under various pretexts. There are those in Iran, in our own society, who do not want all this to happen. This could also happen here. Perhaps it could happen in Iraq. I don't know; it could happen in Afghanistan too. But the important thing is that if trade and investment complement each other, and if we can establish sincere and deep relations in education, industry, science, and culture, if our athletes and artists meet each other, if they maintain good relations, we can create a region of peace and security. I am here with my dear brother, esteemed Mr. President Ilham Aliyev. From the first hours, we have been expressing sincerity and loyalty to each other. We have been expressing our readiness to cooperate in all areas. Our territory and that of Azerbaijan can be a crossroads for the East to meet with the West, and for the North to meet with the South. We are situated in such a geographical location that we can establish these connections. Such work naturally requires highways, railways, ports, trade relations, as well as borders we can cross. Of course, communication and software systems definitely have their own principles. We can sit together and plan these things. We can move forward with comfort, trust, and confidence. We must absolutely respect each other's territorial integrity, politics, and security. We should not have the intention to interfere in each other's internal affairs. This is a factor we believe in. I had a sense of kinship with my brother in the negotiations. We do feel brotherhood and kinship here. In addition to being neighbors, this is a different place for us; there is a big difference between me going to Europe or Africa and coming to Azerbaijan. In general, it is not comparable. In other words, this is a place where one feels familiar with the culture, language, and people. The food, in general, everything is familiar. You look and think it is yours. As a result of this sense of familiarity, feelings of truth, unity, and camaraderie should also manifest themselves in laws, rules, and relationships. We are ready and determined for this to manifest itself.

Before I arrived here this morning, I went to see the Supreme Leader. He sent his greetings to you and insisted that we make our relations with our brothers and sisters here more sincere and deep. This is the Supreme Leader's belief, the advice he gave me. The reason we are here is to be connected with each other. I do believe that we are capable of solving our problems by joining hands. We can emulate powerful countries in all fields in a way they cannot imagine themselves. It is enough for us to trust each other, share our knowledge, experience, and skills, and lead our societies to development, prosperity, and unity. I am sure that if our producers and investors partner with each other, invest in each other, and achieve a unified vision in frameworks and rules, we will not need the presence of external forces in our region. Where economy and trade move from one border to another, weapons and military forces will no longer cross that border. Trade is security, peace, and brotherhood. We can strengthen this by respecting the laws of our countries, respecting each other, and accepting our limitations and apologies.

I would like to thank my dear brother, the esteemed Mr. President Ilham Aliyev, for the hospitality he has shown us and our dear people from Iran in general. It is truly a matter of gratitude. I do hope that this will be the beginning of yet another success. I will conclude my words by quoting two verses from Shahriyar:

If I could fly with this fluttering wind,

I would unite with the stream that descends from the mountain.

I would mourn for the faraway land,

To see who caused the separation.

Who has passed away in our country, and who still remains?

I breathed in deeply, just like you do in the mountains,

You too, raise your voice to the heavens,

Don’t let the owl to be trapped in the cage,

A lion is trapped and roaring here,

Calling out to those without kindness.

Thank you.