TEHRAN — Following his two-day trip to Azerbaijan, the Iranian health minster expressed hope for increased pharmaceutical exports to the neighboring country, IRNA reported on Friday.

“The two countries have close, cultivated relations in all fields and medicine is one of them,” Hassan Qazizadeh-Hashemi said subsequent to his visit with Azerbaijani Minister of Economic Development Shahin Mustafayev. 

“The meetings with Azerbaijani officials were very much constructive and issues such as insurance coverage and exchange of experience were discussed,” the Iranian minister added.

He went on to say that holding such meetings [for improved cooperation] between the neighboring countries can produce desirable outcomes.
Qazizadeh-Hashemi further expressed hope for increased investment opportunities and transfer of knowledge and technology between the two sides. 

President Hassan Rouhani and his counterpart Ilham Aliyev are also determined to extend ties in various fields, he highlighted.
In a meeting in Tehran in August 2017, the two presidents discussed increased pharmaceutical exports from Iran to Azerbaijan, the minister said, adding that they also exchanged views about treatment of refractory diseases and performing complicated surgeries by Iranian specialists in Azerbaijan.

Heading a high-ranking delegation Qazizadeh-Hashemi travelled to Azerbaijan on Thursday. During his stay, the minister also met with his counterpart Ogtay Shiraliyev, Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population Sahil Rafig oglu Babayev, and President Ilham Aliyev. 

Increased cooperation in medical tourism, setting up specialty clinics, holding talks for joint production of pharmaceutical products and vaccine production, holding workshops for broadening nursing skills, and student exchange programs were among the other outcomes of the trip. 

MQ/MG