Azeri emergencies minister visits Tehran, meets Iranian president

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called for closer ties with neighboring Azerbaijan in a visit with Baku’s special envoy.

“Iran and Azerbaijan have good relations with each other, yet the capacity to expand relations and enhance cooperation is great," the Iranian president said during a meeting with Kamaladdin Heydarov in Tehran on Saturday.

The Azerbaijani envoy, for his part, expressed Baku’s interest in booting relations with Tehran after he handed a written message by President Ilham Aliyev to Rouhani.

“Good conditions have been created after the new administration took office which has paved the way for expansion of mutual ties and the Republic of Azerbaijan is determined to take advantage of this situation," the envoy said, while referring to an impending visit by Aliyev to Iran.

The foreign ministers of Iran, the Republic of Azerbaijan and Turkey held a tripartite meeting in the northwestern Iranian city of Orumiyeh in April 2011.

A second meeting was held in the Azeri city of Nakhichevan in March 2012 in order to discuss tripartite cooperation between the neighboring countries in the fields of energy, transportation and trade as well as a joint campaign against terrorism, smuggling and organized crime.

In a meeting with Aliyev on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on January 24, Rouhani said Iran is ready to forge closer energy ties with the Republic of Azerbaijan and transfer its expertise in oil and gas exploration and extraction to its northern neighbor.

Aliyev, for his part, termed the cultural, religious and social commonalities between Azerbaijan and Iran as one of the strong points in the expansion of Baku-Tehran relations.

ANN.Az