Azerbaijan Republic is weighing the facilitation of visa issuance for Iranians, said the Azeri minister of economic development.
Shahin Mustafayev made the statement on the first day of the 10th session of Iran-Azerbaijan Economic Commission held in Tehran on Monday.
“Considerable potential for further cooperation between Tehran and Baku are there to be tapped. We need to set the stage for forging trilateral relations between our countries and Russia,” Mustafayev was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Iran’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology and the co-chairman of the commission, Mahmoud Vaezi, hoped that the visit by Mustafayev and his 100-member delegation will pave the way for Azeri President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Iran.
“The prospective removal of banking restrictions for Iranian traders is key to expansion of ties between Iran and Azerbaijan,” Vaezi said.
The Iranian minister also announced that the two countries’ electricity network will connect within a month, which would lay the groundwork for synchronizing Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia’s power grids.
“The project will not only expand energy ties between the two states, but also meet the national and economic interests of the two sides in the region,” he said.
The two ministers wrapped up the second day of the commission’s meeting on Tuesday by signing its final document.
North-South Transport Corridor
The Azeri minister underlined the importance of the International North-South Transport Corridor in goods transfer during his meetings with Iranian ministers of roads and urban development Abbas Akhoundi and economy Ali Tayyebnia.
“President Ilham Aliyev has recently ordered the acceleration of the International North-South Transport Corridor’s construction,” he said.
The INTSC mega-project involves ship, rail and road routes designed to facilitate freight transport connecting India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central Asia for increasing trade between major cities, such as Mumbai, Moscow, Tehran and Baku.
The project is expected to connect Azerbaijan’s Astara city to a port city of the same name in Iran by the end of the next Iranian year (March 20, 2017).
The international transit pathway, when completed, is expected to increase the commodities currently traded between Iran and Azerbaijan from 600,000 tons to 5 million tons per year, helping bilateral trade to dramatically increase from the current $500 million per year.
The Azeri delegation also discussed areas of trade cooperation with representatives of Iranian private sector at Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture before heading to the northwestern city of Tabriz on the third and final day of Iran-Azerbaijan Commission on Wednesday.
