Baku, Azerbaijan, August 7
By Farhad Daneshvar - Trend:
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has praised Azerbaijan and Russia for their positive approach with relation to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Zarif made the remarks while in Baku, accompanying Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on a two-day official visit.
“Under the sanctions, Iran’s relations with neighbors were affected less than with others. However, with the onset of the nuclear talks, Iran’s neighbors also took a more active approach to Iran,” Zarif told Trend on August 7.
The JCPOA was implemented on January 16 followed by a nuclear deal last year curbing Iran's nuclear program in return for the removal of international sanctions.
“Of those neighbors which expanded their relations with Iran more than any other, Azerbaijan and Russia are notable,” he said.
“Our relations with these two countries grew by degrees both during the nuclear talks and after the JCPOA,” Zarif said.
“The two countries’ heads have exchanged many visits in the past three years and tomorrow the three countries will hold their first [trilateral] meeting,” Zarif noted.
Iran's President Rouhani, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Russia's President Vladimir Putin are to meet on Aug. 8 in Baku.
Zarif went on to say that thanks to the JCPOA, now the three counties can enjoy a great extent of cooperation, while under the sanctions there were many problems for Iran especially for cooperation in energy and transit sectors.
Azerbaijan and Iran cooperate in a major international North-South transportation corridor project. The corridor is meant to connect Northern Europe to South-East Asia. It will serve as a link connecting the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia.
Ealier in the day, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told Rouhani, “We attach great importance to your visit. I am confident that this visit will be very successful and will give a new impetus to the development of our relations.”
A ceremony of signing several documents was held after the expanded meeting with Aliyev and Rouhani on the same day. The MoUs specified cooperation in industry, banking, transport, science, tourism, culture, etc. Tehran and Baku signed 11 MoUs upon Aliyev’s visit to Tehran February 23.
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