The visit of the President of Azerbaijan to Iran

On February 23, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev paid an official visit to Iran. According to the Iranian news agency Mehrnews, the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and  the delegation  accompanying  him at the International Mehrabad airport in Tehran, was met  by Mahmoud Vaez, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

Previously, the administration of the President of Iran reported that a number of bilateral documents in political and economic spheres will be signed. The  Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian said that after the lifting international sanctions, the level of relations between Tehran and Baku has increased, which is beneficial for both sides.

According to him, in the near future will also be resolved the problem of the construction of hydroelectric Khudaferin. The parties have discussed the possibility of the construction of wind and thermal power plants in the cities of Meshkin-shahr and Hough. On the eve of the visit in an interview with Iranian TV and Radio (IRIB) Ilham Aliyev said that the parties focused on the project of transport corridor North-South.

Last fall, began active negotiations between the two countries on cooperation for the exploration and development of oil and gas fields in the Caspian Sea and on land.

Aliyev’s last visit to Iran was in April 2014, and in November of the same year, the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made a return visit. Both visits, like previous ones,  were taking place  under the  conditions of international sanctions against Iran, initiated by the United States. This created a certain discomfort in the relations between Baku and Tehran. Iran has periodically criticized Azerbaijan for its pro-Western course and close ties with Israel. However,  according to the political expert Ali Abbasov, the lifting of sanctions and the beginning of full cooperation  of Iran with the western world, opens up new opportunities to build mutually beneficial Azerbaijani-Iranian relations. According to the official Iranian statistics, the trade turnover between the two countries in 2015 reached 523 million  Euros, of which 350 million is the  Iranian exports, which has a tendency to growth under cancellation of sanctions.—0—