“There is Still Room for Future Cooperation,” Assures Azerbaijan’s Ambassador.

Their short-term political challenges aside, Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan have always shared deep roots of relations. Over the last year, following the political developments in Iran and also considering the emphasis of the Republic of Azerbaijan on further cooperation with Iran, there have been considerable enhancements in the two countries’ political ties.
The Ambassador or the Republic of Azerbaijan in Tehran, Mr. Javanshir Akhundov believes in the fact that the trips of political committees between Iran and his country bode well as the furthered dynamicity of their relations. In an interview with AVA Diplomatic, Mr. Akhundov has helped us achieve a deeper look at the political, cultural and economic potentials between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

 AVA Diplomatic’s Exclusive Interview with Mr. Javanshir Akhundov, the Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Interview by Mohammadreza Nazari

How much do you find Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan culturally and religiously similar?

In today’s world there are no other countries like Iran and Azerbaijan which are so close to each other from historical, religious, cultural, traditional and even geographical point of view.

Iran and Azerbaijan enjoy friendly relations and these friendly relations have enhanced over the recent years. Bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Iran cover various areas, such as political, economic, social, cultural religious and etc. Islamic Republic of Iran recognized Azerbaijan’s independence on December 25, 1991. Diplomatic relations between two countries were established on March 12, 1992. Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Islamic Republic of Iran has opened since December 1992.

How do you view the overall display of Iran-Azerbaijan relations over the recent years?

During these years, heads of states and governments, speakers of the parliaments, ministers of foreign affairs, as well as other cabinet members- ministers from both countries conducted a number of official and working visits and meetings to discuss bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Iran.

The Republic of Azerbaijan and Islamic Republic of Iran also cooperate closely in multilateral fora – international organizations, such as United Nations Organization (UNO), Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), Non-Aligned Movement and this cooperation will further go on.

Did Mr. Aliyev’s trip to Iran affect the development of the two countries’ relations? If yes, how?

Upon the invitation of H.E. Hassan Rouhani, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran H.E. Ilham Aliyev, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan paid and official visit to Iran on April 9, 2014. The visit was successful and 4 documents were signed between Azerbaijan and Iran during the visit. In my view, this visit once again demonstrated that existing relations between neighbor, friendly and partner countries of Iran and Azerbaijan will further go up.

As President Ilham Aliyev stated during this visit, support of Islamic Republic of Iran in Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict is very important for us. Since the beginning of Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Islamic Republic of Iran has always recognized territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and has acknowledged that Karabakh is an integral part of the Republic of Azerbaijan in international arena by fully supporting UN Security Council’s Resolutions, as well as numerous decisions and resolutions of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on occupation of 20% territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan by Armenia and emergence of about 1 million of Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced people as a result of this conflict. Furthermore, in the final document of the 16^th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement held in 2012 in Tehran participating states once again recognized Karabakh as an inalienable part of Azerbaijan.

We do believe that this visit by President Ilham Aliyev to Iran will contribute to future strengthening of bilateral relations in political, economic, and humanitarian areas.

In general, from the beginning of 2014 Azerbaijan-Iran bilateral relations have undergone particular intensification, new areas are considered for cooperation. And certainly, since high level visits are one of the tools in developing bilateral relations, both Azerbaijan and Iran paid particular attention to this.

Thus far in this year, we have witnessed the presence of Azerbaijani Top Brass in Iran. Why and on what level were such visits conducted?

H.E. Ogtay Asadov, the speaker of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) of the Republic of Azerbaijan attended the 9^th Conference of the Parliamentary Union of OIC Member States held on February 18-19, 2014 in Tehran. We believe that this visit and meetings conducted within the visit will contribute to future development of parliamentary ties of our countries both in bilateral and multilateral fora.

On March 11-14, 2014 a delegation headed by Mr. Ibrahim Rahimpoor, Special Representative on the Caspian Sea issues and Deputy Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran visited the Republic of Azerbaijan. During the visit the delegation was received by President Ilham Aliyev and various issues on developing bilateral and multilateral relations between our countries were discussed at the meeting.

Within the framework of the visit of Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister to Baku political consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran were held on March 13, 2014. Mutually interesting issues of bilateral, regional and international level were on the agenda of the consultations.

Afterwards, on March 14-16, 2014 H.E. Mr. Kamaladdin Heydarov, Minister for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Azerbaijan paid an official visit to Iran and held meetings with his counterparts. During the meetings opportunities of mutual assistance under various emergency situations were discussed. As a follow up to these discussions, “Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Ministry of Interior of the Islamic Republic of Iran on cooperation related to management of emergency situations” was signed during the official visit of H.E. Ilham Aliyev, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Iran and thus laid a legal foundation for cooperation in this field between our countries.

The following high level visit to Iran was conducted by Colonel-General Zakir Hasanov, Minister of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan on April 14-15, 2014. Minister of Defense met his Iranian counterparts and discussed enhancing existing ties between relevant structures of two countries, as well as future cooperation prospects.

The very recent of high level visit series to Iran was the one by H.E. Ali Abbasov, Minister of Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which took place June 17-18, 2014 upon the invitation of H.E. Mahmud Vaezi, Minister of Communication and information Technologies of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran-Azerbaijan meeting on communication and information technologies with the participation of representatives of public and private companies from both countries also was organized in the sidelines of this visit. This meeting inter alia contributed to elaborating new cooperation spheres, as well as intensifying bilateral ties in the area of information technologies. Besides, Minister Abbasov also mentioned at his bilateral meetings that Azerbaijan supports Iran’s membership to the International Telecommunication Union’s Council (ITU is a UN specialized agency in information and communication technologies).

How have the agreements and accords signed between the two countries influenced the extension of the bilateral economic ties between them?

What I mentioned above are the developments that took place in the recent 6 months. In general, a number of comprehensive contracts and agreements covering economic and scientific-technical areas have been signed between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Necessary legal base for mutually beneficial cooperation between two countries has been fully established. Joint Intergovernmental Commission on cooperation in social, economic, trade and humanitarian areas between Iran and Azerbaijan has been functioning since 1992.

Along that, we continue our successful cooperation with Iran in the framework of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), which is based in Tehran. Certainly, in spite of day by day enhancement of relations between two countries there is still room for future cooperation, we have particularly to be active in mutually developing economic ties. In this regard, we could intensify economic ties between Iran and Azerbaijan within ECO. During Azerbaijan’s chairmanship in ECO Council of Ministers (2012-2013) I conducted the chairmanship at the ECO member states permanent representatives’ council for about a year. During this time we made a lot of efforts to develop bilateral relations. To establish a unique transport system among member countries was one of the projects to this end. Construction of railways and international roads among ECO member states’ big cities may facilitate developing economic ties. In my opinion, it should be one of the priorities to finalize construction of the “Qazvin-Rasht-Astara(Iran)-Astara(Azerbaijan)” railway which is a part of “North-South International Transport Corridor” and connects railways between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

How much have the cultural potentials between the two countries been made use of so as to further the relations between Iran and Azerbaijan?

We of course cooperate in the area of culture. It is envisaged to hold Azerbaijan culture days in Iran this year. To this end we plan organize exhibition in Tehran, Tabriz, Adrabil, Shiraz, Zanjan, Hamadan and other cities of Iran to promote Azerbaijan’s culture, art, as well as tourism potential.

There are very close commonalities between Azerbaijan and Iran and we, on our turn, are ready to do all our best to further develop bilateral relations.