AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Jan 25 2005

PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN ILHAM ALIYEV MEETS WITH CHAIRMAN OF IRANIAN
STATE EXPEDIENCY COUNCIL ALI AKBAR HASHEMI RAFSANJANI
[January 25, 2005, 15:17:17]

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev staying on an
official visit in Tehran has met here today with Chairman of the
State Expediency Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ali Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani, AzerTAj correspondent report.

During the meeting, which was held in the atmosphere of sincerity,
Mr. Rafsanjani first expressed his pleasure to see President Ilham
Aliyev in Tehran. He also recalled his friendly relations with
national leader of Azerbaijan, renowned political figure, late
Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev saying `what he did for his
country and the whole region was of historical significance’.
Chairman of the Iranian State Expediency Council also expressed
satisfaction that President Ilham Aliyev is successfully following
his path.

Having thanked Mr. Rafsanjani for the kind words, President Ilham
Aliyev introduced members of the Azerbaijani delegation to him. He
described his visit to Iran as very successful, and noted that after
the visit by President Mohammad Khatami to Azerbaijan, relations
between the two countries had been strengthened. `I’ve brought a
large delegation with me, and a number of documents are planned to be
signed during this visit,’ he said.

Speaking of the processes taken place in Azerbaijan over the past
year, President Ilham Aliyev dwelt on economic growth in the country,
healthy economic environment created here and its promising future.
`Azerbaijan will be developed even more in the next five years,’ he
said.

Touching upon the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
President Ilham Aliyev especially emphasized that `our greatest
problem is occupation of Azerbaijani land by Armenia and, as a
result, over million of refugees and internally displaced persons in
the country.’ Having described this conflict as a source of a great
danger to the region, he said: `Iran has always taken a fair stance
with this respect, we have always felt its support and are grateful
for that.’

President Ilham Aliyev and Chairman of the State Expediency Council
Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani also exchanged views on a number of
other issues of mutual interest.