Iran seeks reducing economic reliance on West

The Iranian ambassador to Baku says a central plank of the Islamic Republic’s “economic diplomacy” is to reduce dependence on the US and Europe, and establish ties with other countries.

“This is the reason why Iran’s economic activities have been directed toward the expansion of ties with Asian, Latin American and African countries, and important accomplishments have been achieved in this sector,” Mohsen Pak-Ayeen said on Friday.

A key priority of the new Iranian administration’s foreign policy is to forge close ties with neighboring countries, the Iranian diplomat further said.

Pak-Ayeen said he believed that Iran’s foreign economic activities should be concentrated in new sectors.

Pointing to the deep-rooted ties between Tehran and Baku, he noted that the two sides enjoy historical, religious and cultural commonalties and have cooperation in energy and trade sectors and on the Caspian Sea.

The two countries are expected to enter new phases of cooperation in the fields of energy, trade and transit of goods, he added.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian ambassador touched upon the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, saying the row should be settled.

“As long as the dispute is not resolved, the danger of war again breaking out in the region still exists,” Pak-Ayeen said.

He also called on regional countries to be resolute in resolving the dispute.

Both Azerbaijan and Armenia claim the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is largely populated by Armenians but located in Azerbaijan.

Ethnic Armenian forces took control over the enclave, which accounts for 16 percent of Azerbaijan, in the early 1990s during a six-year war with the country, which lasted from February 1988 to May 1994.

The conflict left an estimated 30,000 people dead and one million others displaced before the two sides agreed to a ceasefire in 1994. However, a peace accord has never been signed and the dispute still remains unsettled.

Iran has on several occasions offered to mediate in the dispute.