Turan news agency, Azerbaijan
Feb. 20, 2008

The Azerbaijani defence minister has reproaches Iran for cooperating
with Armenia

At a meeting with Iranian Minister of Defence and Armed Forces
Logistics Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, during his officialvisit to Tehran
on 18-19 February Safar Abiyev reproached that country for
cooperating with Armenia in the economic,political and military areas
while describing itself as a friend of Azerbaijan, Turan said. It
added, quoting theAzerbaijani Defence Ministry press service, that
the main topic of the talks were prospects for the development
ofbilateral military cooperation.

During a meeting between Safar Abiyev and Iranian Foreign Minister
Manuchehr Mottaki, the latter said Iran was ready to play an active
role in the implementation of various projects in Azerbaijan,
Azerbaijan’s APA news agency quotedthe Iranian Foreign Ministry press
service as saying.

"Iran regards the Azerbaijani people as fraternal people and views
Azerbaijan’s development with the samesensitiveness as its own,"
Mottaki said. He added that the two countries’ officials were set to
expand andsupport political and economic cooperation. Abiyev said
Baku believed relations between the two countries would develop at a
high level, APA added.