Iran’s president to visit Azerbaijan next week

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani will pay an official visit to Azerbaijan on Nov. 12-13, Iran’s communications and information technology minister Mahmoud Vaezi said.

It will be Rouhani’s first visit to Azerbaijan as Iran's president. He will meet his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, and other senior officials in the capital, Baku.

Vaezi, who has arrived in Baku to prepare for the visit, said 10 cooperation agreements will be signed during the visit.

The agreements will cover cooperation in the fields of energy, transportation and customs services, he said.

Vaezi said trade between Azerbaijan and Iran is estimated at $500 million, which needs to be increased.

President Ilham Aliyev has paid several visits to Iran, most recently in April, after taking office 11 years ago.

Azerbaijan has had a difficult relationship with Iran after regaining independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991. Azeri officials accused Iran of helping Armenia during the war over Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s. 

Iran, for its part, protested Azerbaijan’s close ties with the US and Israel.

Ethnic Azeris made up at at least a quarter of Iran’s 80 million population.

Bakudaily.Az