TEHRAN – Attended by senior officials, entrepreneurs and businessmen from both sides, an Iran-Azerbaijan business and investment forum was held in Baku on Thursday.

According to a report by the portal of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA), Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Farhad Dejpasand, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Economic Development Shahin Mustafayev and the Head of Iran-Azerbaijan Joint Chamber of Commerce Hossein Pirmoazen were among the attendees of the forum.

Speaking in the event, Mustafayev mentioned the 12 meetings between the two countries’ presidents during the past five years and said “that is an indication of how good the relations between the two countries are.”

“In 2018, trade between the two countries increased by 74 percent. Azerbaijan hasn’t had such a boost in trade with any other country.” The official said.

The Azeri minister referred to energy, transportation, industry and tourism as good areas for developing bilateral relations with Iran, and called for Tehran to strengthen relations in these areas.

He further mentioned the friendly relations between his country, Iran and Russia and called for the strengthening of trilateral relationship between Tehran, Baku and Moscow.

Importance of private sectors

Iranian finance minister for his part Referred to the satisfactory volume of trade between the two countries, stressing the important role of Iran's private sector in developing economic relations with the northern neighbor.

Dejpasand further added that for development of bilateral ties, the interaction between the two sides’ private sectors should be strengthened and joint ventures must be formed.

Iran's economy minister called for win-win economic relations between the two sides in a variety of areas including investment, tourism, services and trade, and announced Iran’s readiness for cooperation in these areas.

He described Iran as Azerbaijan’s gateway into the southern waters and called on Baku to use the opportunities that the North-South corridor is providing.

Elsewhere in the meeting, Hossein Pirmouzan, the chairman of Iran-Azerbaijan Joint Chamber of Commerce, pointed to the exchange of more than 100 trade delegations between the two countries in recent years and addressed the relations between the two sides to be very positive and on the path to growth.

He called for the establishment of a preferential trade agreement between the two countries aimed at increasing the volume of trade exchanges.

 13th Joint Economic Committee meeting

Previous to the business forum, the 13th Iran-Azerbaijan Joint Economic Committee meeting was also held in Baku on Wednesday.

In the meeting, Head of the Organization for Investment and Technology and Assistance of Iran Ahmad Jamali stressed Azerbaijan’s strategic geographical position and its importance for Iran.

Jamali noted that “using the capacity of the joint economic committee, we can see a further boom in the volume of trade between the two sides.”

The official pointed to the Qazvin-Rasht railway project, which is a part of North-South corridor, as a turning point in the development of relations between the two countries and said that this railway is going to further facilitate the trade between Iran and Azerbaijan.

The talks between the representatives of the two countries were held in the form of eight committees, including trade, industry, investment along with financial and banking, customs and borders as well as transportation and transit, energy and environment, agriculture and health, cultural, social and humanitarian and finally tourism.

EF/MA