Azerbaijani President's visit to Iran completed

Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliyev’s visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran (I.R.I.) finished on March 5. During the visit, President Aliyev met with Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and I.R.I. President, Hassan Rouhani.

The parties signed a number of documents on cooperation in the economic sphere, including in the field of financial control, as well as on cooperation between the railway agencies of the two countries. As it was agreed, Azerbaijan will be engaged in construction of Rasht-Astara railway.

As the Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, stated at the meeting, the sides successfully developed bilateral cooperation in the car industry sphere. “The Caspian Sea ecology issues, as well as the prospects for joint use of oil deposits, have been discussed at today’s meeting.” Touching upon the Karabakh problem, the Iranian President stated as follows: “We respect the territorial integrity of each and every country. We hope that a solution to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be found. All conflicts should be resolved through political way, through negotiations,”Azertag state information agency reported.

Elhan Shahinoglu, Azerbaijani political analyst, the Head of Atlas Analytical Center, believes that the aforesaid visit hasn’t brought any particular positivechanges to the Azerbaijani-Iranian relations.

“Economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Iran has been dynamically developing over the past 3 years. There are some significant projects, including the construction of railway. Regrettably, this development doesn’t concern Nagorno-Karabakh problem. Iran isn’t expected to change its position in this regard,” Shahinoglu told Azadliq Radio.

Meanwhile, social media users termed Azerbaijani President’s visit to Iran as ‘the visit for the sake of the visit’: ‘There were no discussions on violation of the rights and freedoms ofthe Iranian Azerbaijanis.Just some trait phrases about friendship and cooperation. If the Armenian leader travels there tomorrow, he will meet with the Armenian Diaspora there and will try to solve their problems.”