TEHRAN – Mahmoud Vaezi, the Iranian president’s chief of staff, has visited Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to prepare grounds for next week’s trilateral Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran summit that is set to be held in the Russian city of Sochi in the current month. 

The presidents of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia last met together in Tehran in November 2017.

Iranian and Azeri presidents have met 12 times over the past five years, according to Vaezi, who called the visits as “foundation of good bilateral relations".  

Speaking to Azeri Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev on Saturday evening, Vaezi said that Tehran and Baku are moving towards expanding their relations by connecting the Iranian railways to the Azeri ones, linking their national electrical grids, developing customs cooperation as well as expanding trade, sport and tourism ties. 

Vaezi expressed hope that bilateral relations between Iran and Azerbaijan would further develop. 

Iran-Azerbaijan ties have developed further despite the U.S. sanctions on Iran, said Vaezi.

“Tehran and Baku have good cooperation in pharmaceutical, car manufacturing, joint investment, regional issues and border issues,” he noted. 

He also thanked the Azeri officials for rescuing the crew of a sunken Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea last month. 

Mustafayev, for his part, underlined that the U.S. sanctions haven’t affected the Baku-Tehran ties. 

He said that Iranian companies in Azerbaijan have augmented their activities over the past two years, resulting in a rise in bilateral annual trade volume.

SP/PA