Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Baku hosted the 9th meeting of the Iranian-Azerbaijani State Commission on Economic, Trade and Humanitarian Cooperation on August 6.

The meeting was attended by Azerbaijan's Economy and Industry Minister, co-chairman of the commission Shahin Mustafayev and representatives of the state commission from the Azerbaijani side and an Iranian delegation headed by Iran's Minister of Communications and Information Technology and co-chairman of the commission Mahmoud Vaezi.

Addressing the meeting, Mustafayev said the two countries are successfully cooperating in political, economic and social-humanitarian fields and this cooperation is based on the principles of equal rights and fruitful partnership.

"To date, Azerbaijan and Iran have signed 103 documents, including 30 documents in the economic field," Mustafayev noted.

The Azerbaijani minister went on to add that the trade relations between the two countries are successfully developing.

"In 2013, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Iran increased by 7 percent. Some 441 companies with Iranian investment operate in various sectors of the Azerbaijani economy. Iran has invested $382 million in the main capital and $105 million in Azerbaijan's non-oil sector. In 2013, the volume of Iranian investment in Azerbaijan's main capital amounted to $158 million," Mustafayev stressed.

Vaezi, in turn, said Azerbaijan and Iran enjoy great potential to further develop the economic relations.

Later, the two sides signed a protocol on the results of the 9th meeting of the Iranian-Azerbaijani State Commission on Economic, Trade and Humanitarian Cooperation.

The document was signed by Mustafayev and Vaezi.

The document said Azerbaijan and Iran will expand cooperation in the fields of trade, economy, banking sector and investing in the joint projects.

The two sides expressed interest in developing their cooperation in transporting Azerbaijani gas to Iran and in selling it, as well as increasing the volume of 'swap' operations for supplying Azerbaijani gas to Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic through Iran.

Moreover, the two countries also agreed to intensify the cooperation in transportation and exchange of electricity, to create hydropower plants on the border rivers (Ordubad, Marazad and others) and to work out rules for using the water of border rivers, in particular the Araz River.

Azerbaijan and Iran also intended to develop the cooperation within the North-South (Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran) railway corridor, in the spheres of maritime shipping, customs, tourism, science and research, IT, agriculture, culture and heath care.