Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani Parliamentary Speaker Ogtay Asadov met with the chairman of Iran's Parliament, Speaker Ali Larijani in Iran on August 4 during his visit to this country.

The meeting was held after the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

"Friendly and fraternal relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have deep historical roots," Larijani said during the meeting. "Iran is ready for any cooperation to solve regional problems and create stability."

In turn, Asadov said the development of friendly relations between the two countries is important for Azerbaijan. He appreciated Iran's role in maintaining security and stability in the region, especially in the process of resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Nagorno-Karabakh is an Azerbaijani region occupied by Armenia along with seven adjacent regions since a war fought by the two South Caucasus republics in the early 1990s. Years of OSCE-brokered peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.

The speaker also stressed that the Azerbaijani parliament is committed to the comprehensive development of relations in the economic, political and cultural areas between the two countries.

It should be noted that the delegation headed by Asadov departed for Iran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran's new president Hassan Rouhani.

The delegation included the head of Office of the Azerbaijani Parliament Safa Mirzayev and other officials.

Rohani, whose four-year tenure officially started on Sunday, took over from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Numerous representatives of other countries were present at the inauguration ceremony of Iran's news president. The delegations from over 50 countries included presidents, prime ministers, vice presidents and parliament speakers. This is the first time that Iran has invited foreign officials to attend the presidential inauguration ceremony.

Rohani won Iran's June 14 presidential election with 50.7 percent of a total of over 36 million ballots. Voter turnout in the election was 72.7 percent.