Azerbaijan, Iran discuss cooperation prospects
Tehran, November 26, AZERTAC
Azerbaijan and Iran have explored ways of developing the bilateral cooperation as Deputy Prime Minister, chairman of the State Committee for Refugee and IDP Affairs Ali Hasanov is visiting Tehran.
Mr. Hasanov met co-chair of the Iran-Azerbaijan joint intergovernmental economic, trade and humanitarian commission, Minister of Communication and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi to discuss how to expand cooperation, increase the bilateral trade, and facilitate visa and custom systems.
Mr. Vaezi recalled his visits to Azerbaijan, and hailed the development of Baku. He paid tribute to national leader Heydar Aliyev.
The Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister praised the national leader`s role in building “close and sincere friendly relations” with Iran. “Azerbaijan considers Iran its close friend, and is trying its best to ensure the development of the bilateral ties on all fronts,” said Mr. Hasanov.
He stressed the importance of the Iranian President`s visit to Baku, saying reciprocal visits play a key role in bringing the two nations closer to each other.
The Deputy Premier hailed the work of the Iran-Azerbaijan joint intergovernmental economic, trade and humanitarian commission. “Iran too faced the problem of refugees during Iran-Iraq war. So Iran has big experience in tackling this challenge. We believe that conducting experience exchange in this area would be beneficial.”
Mr. Hasanov emphasized the necessity of building closer cooperation in the humanitarian area and in preventing illegal narcotics trafficking. “We propose discussing these two issues in the intergovernmental commission.”
He also touched upon the bilateral trade, saying “the 500 million dollars volume is not satisfactory”. “Both Azerbaijan and Iran have enough economic and production potential to multiply trade. So we should make maximum efforts to get this done,” he added.
Mr. Hasanov highlighted Azerbaijan`s development priorities. “President Ilham Aliyev defined five priorities of development strategy. The first is reducing the dependence of the state budget on oil. The second is completely eliminating poverty by 2020. The third is turning Azerbaijan from developing into developed country. The fourth is strengthening the fight against corruption. And the fifth is strengthening efforts towards ensuring the protection of human rights in Azerbaijan.”
Mr. Vaezi stressed the importance of high-level reciprocal visits and meetings. “The presidents of Iran and Azerbaijan have met four times this year. Both heads of state demonstrated political will to elevate the relations between their countries to a new level. Thanks to efforts of the two presidents Iran and Azerbaijan signed 10 documents.”
Mr. Vaezi welcomed the Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister`s proposal to discuss cooperation in preventing illegal drug trafficking and in humanitarian area. He said the issues will be raised by the commission.
Mr. Vaezi said official Tehran will fulfill all requests of the Azerbaijani government related to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, which is now living under blockade because of ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Rabil Katanov
Special Correspondent
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