Tehran, Iran, August 29
By Temkin Jafarov - Trend:
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran and Azerbaijan have worked a lot toward attaining mutual interests.
"We can have a lot of relations with Azerbaijan. We have established very friendly relations for common good," he told the Trend correspondent during a press conference in Tehran August 29.
Effort has been made to have economic relations and joint cooperation around the Caspian Sea, he noted.
"There is also an oil field which we are discussing with Azerbaijan to start working on jointly," the president said.
He expressed happiness that unconstructive media barrage on both sides have subsided.
Now the two governments are sure that they can cooperate, and it is hoped that the efforts can help regional security, including the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, he said.
"Our efforts are aimed at making better use of the Caspian Sea and its environment," he said.
"Currently, the trade turnover between our countries is about $500 million. Azerbaijan and Iran have set a goal to increase this figure four times, up to $2 billion."
Iran's export to Azerbaijan during the first half of 2015 decreased 55.36 percent to $42.52 million year-to-year.
Azerbaijan's export to Iran also decreased 67.11 percent to $11.16 million during the mentioned period.
Iran shares 0.19 percent of Azerbaijan's total export and 0.9 percent of total export in first six months of 2015.
Rouhani also said that his administration has worked toward better relations with all Caspian Sea littoral countries.
"The presidents of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan have traveled to Iran in the meantime, and I have had many meetings with the Russian president," he pointed out.
"I have traveled to nearly all of these countries and more trips are to follow."