TEHRAN – Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov here said Monday he had fruitful talks with Iranian officials during talks on matters of mutual interest as well as regional issues.
“Our bilateral trade volume grew by 30% last year,” said, adding Tehran and Baku still needed to further bolster ties as they enjoy great economic and trade potential.
He also said that his country has reached an argument with Iran to jointly make cars and tractors, adding cooperation on building dams and power plants is also among top priorities of the two neighbors.
He made the remarks in a joint news conference with his Iranian counterpart Hussein Amir-Abdollahian who said bilateral trade has increased dramatically in the past months.
The minister said in his talks with Bayramov, “we stressed the need for deepening relations between the two countries on the basis of understanding, trust and mutual interests”.
The top Iranian diplomat said various existing diplomatic formats between two or more countries should be seriously taken into consideration given unfolding developments and new conditions.
Amir-Abdollahian said he tabled a proposal on hosting a tripartite foreign ministerial meeting between Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkey in Tehran during his last week meeting with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara.
Abdollahian said another meeting will be convened in the ‘3+3’ format with the involvement of high-level specialists. The meeting will begin with high-level specialists from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Iran, and Turkey, and will then progress to foreign ministers from the aforementioned nations in Tehran or another Iranian city.
Iranian Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian will visit Baku later this week to discuss steps aimed at bringing Khoda Afarin Dam into operation, he added.
“Agreements on synchronization of power grids as well as electronic power networks between the two countries will be finalized during the Iranian energy minister’s visit,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
He said discussions were also held with his Azerbaijani counterpart on the pollution of the Aras river, stressing that the roots of the contamination have been identified by both countries.
Amir-Abdollahian also extended the Iranian president’s invitation to Aliyev to visit Tehran, emphasizing that consultations are underway to finalize the timing of the trip.
The minister said Iran and Azerbaijan have moved from the level of misunderstanding to boosting relations in all areas.