By Sabina Mammadli
Baku and Tehran will sign certain accords on the energy and industry sectors at the 15th meeting of the Azerbaijan-Iran Intergovernmental Joint Economic Commission, Trend has reported.
Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Rostam Ghasemi made the remarks before his visit to Azerbaijan.
He noted that a number of agreements and contracts will be signed between various authorities of Azerbaijan and Iran.
"Certain agreements related to the energy and industrial sectors will be reached at the meeting of the commission. Cooperation in agriculture and trade between the two countries will also be discussed,” he added.
Ghasemi added that it is planned to increase the activities of the Iran Khodro Company in Azerbaijan.
In a separate statement, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Mehdi Safari said that there is a great opportunity to open a new page in economic relations between Iran and Azerbaijan.
He emphasized that the meeting will create conditions for the development of cooperation in many areas, including transit, trade, technical engineering services, tourism, agriculture, and others.
The deputy minister added that several construction projects in Azerbaijan have been implemented by Iran.
“It is hoped that Iranian companies with sufficient potential in the construction sector will be involved in the implementation of more projects,” he said.
Safari underlined that Iran highly values strengthening economic relations with various countries with a special place for neighboring countries.
Meanwhile, the official visit of Rostam Ghasemi, accompanied by a large delegation, to Azerbaijan has started. He has already been received by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
The Iranian delegation has started its visit from the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan.
Within the visit, the Iranian minister will meet with Nakhchivan Supreme Majlis Chairman Vasif Talibov, familiarize himself with the Julfa border terminal and the Julfa-Tabriz railway station.
The minister noted that within the visit, Tehran-Baku relations will be discussed, aiming for further development.
On November 28, 2021, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan signed a trilateral agreement on swapping gas supplies in Ashgabat. The signing ceremony took place in the presence of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi.
The agreement envisages deliveries of 1.5 to 2 billion cubic meters of gas each year, with Turkmenistan supplying gas to Iran and Iran delivering an equal quantity of gas to Azerbaijan. Thus, under the trilateral deal, Turkmenistan will sell 5-6 million cubic meters of gas per day to Azerbaijan. These volumes are expected to increase in the future.
After liberating its lands from Armenian occupation in the 44-day war in 2020, Azerbaijan regained control over a 132-km section of the Azerbaijan-Iran border. The re-establishment of control over the state border opened up new prospects for deeper cooperation between the two countries.
The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Iran in 2021 was $440.8 million.