Baku, Azerbaijan, August 5
By Temkin Jafarov - Trend:
Favorable conditions have been created between Iran and Azerbaijan for cooperation in several key sectors of the economy.
Iranian Minister of Communications and Information Technology and co-chairman of the Azerbaijani-Iranian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation Mahmoud Vaezi made the remarks in this interview with Trend.
At present, a number of agreements on cooperation in the implementation of projects in various sectors of the economy have been reached between the two countries, he said.
Vaezi leads the Iranian delegation, which arrived in Baku to participate in the ninth meeting of the Azerbaijani-Iranian intergovernmental commission on trade-economic and humanitarian cooperation.
"The meetings of the Iranian-Azerbaijani intergovernmental commission have not been held for more than four years, and no document has been signed between the parties during this period which would legally secured the cooperation between the two countries. Therefore, it was decided to hold this meeting," the Iranian minister said.
Favorable conditions for bilateral cooperation, particularly in industry were established after the visit of the Azerbaijani president to Iran, according to Vaezi.
"The positive atmosphere is also felt today after I have had a series of meetings with Azerbaijani friends and colleagues both in the public and private sectors. It is obvious that a new page is being opened in the development of cooperation between the two countries. Our delegation include representatives from the public and private sectors of Iran. We intend to reach an agreement on cooperation in the fields of industry, trade, transport, including railway links, energy, tourism, customs, banking and oil and gas sectors, ICT and others. We hope to reach agreement on all these fields," he said.
Furthermore, the issues of Iran's investment in the Azerbaijani sector will also be considered during the meeting of the intergovernmental commission.
The Iranian delegation includes 60 representatives of public and private sectors of the economy, as well as trade representatives of the border regions of Iran.
"We also look forward to a mutually beneficial cooperation with border regions of Azerbaijan.It is expected to sign the protocol, which will designate specific areas of cooperation following the meeting of the intergovernmental commission. We intend to hold discussions on the preparation of a number of documents in the field of bilateral cooperation. I think our visit to Azerbaijan will be fruitful. It is not excluded that the next meeting to address issues of bilateral cooperation in the future may take place in Iran," Vaezi said.
The trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $94.12 million in January-June 2014, according to the State Customs Committee. At the same time, Azerbaijan imported Iranian products worth $76.81 million. The export volumes to Iran stood at the level of $17.31million.
Edited by CN