TEHRAN -- Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian said Friday that during his Wednesday trip to Azerbaijan, the two nations charted out a roadmap to further enhance ties and “agreed to open a new chapter” in bilateral relations.
The minister described his talks with President Ilham Aliyev as well as his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov as “cordial”, stressing that the top priority of the new Iranian administration is enhancing relations with neighbors.
The minister pointed to the recent session in Moscow of the 3+3 format of cooperation between the South Caucasus countries, on the one side, and Iran, Russia, and Turkey, on the other, saying such arrangements will contribute to the consolidation of peace and stability in the region.
The first meeting within the 3+3 regional cooperation platform was held in the Russian capital on December 10, with the participation of Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey, Armenia, but Georgia did not attend it.
“Such regional formats convey the message that regional states are able to resolve the problems through cooperation with one another,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
Regional states, he added, “are not interested in the meddling of foreign players and our common enemies will have no place in this region.”
“A new chapter has opened in relations between Iran and Azerbaijan, which will bring positive results for both countries. We are ready to finalize all the previous projects and reach new agreements,” the top Iranian diplomat said.
In Baku, President Aliyev stressed the importance of relations between the two neighbors and the finalization of joint projects, voicing his country’s keenness to expand mutual relations in political, economic and cultural fields.
He said problems in the region should be resolved by the regional countries, adding Baku opposes foreign interference in regional affairs.