Tehran, Baku share common positions

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad praises the Islamic Republic’s growing ties with Azerbaijan, saying the two countries share common positions on mutual and international issues.

“Despite efforts by ill-wishers, Iran and Azerbaijan have a common understanding of international issues and even bilateral matters. This is a unique opportunity for strengthening relations between the two countries,” said President Ahmadinejad in a Wednesday meeting with Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov in Baku, quoted by IRNA.

He added that Tehran and Baku have great potentials that can be utilized towards boosting stability and security in both countries as well as the entire region.

The Iranian chief executive pointed to meager volume of economic exchanges between Iran and Azerbaijan despite their high capabilities and said the two sides enjoy great capacity for cooperating in the fields of industry, agriculture and trade.

“An increase in joint ventures in a variety of fields, particularly in energy and transportation, will serve the interest of regional security,” President Ahmadinejad said.

The Azerbaijani minister, for his part, called for the expansion of relations with the Islamic Republic and said his country regards the climbing power and influence of Iran in political and defensive fields as favorable to the interests of Azarbaijan as well.

“Iran is an influential country in the region which can play a leading role in resolving regional problems and establishing security and stability,” Mammadyarov said.

President Ahmadinejad arrived in the Azeri capital of Baku on Wednesday to attend the third meeting of the leaders of Caspian littoral states to negotiate the legal regime of the sea and to discuss expanding ties with Azeri officials.

Despite extensive negotiations, the legal status of the Caspian Sea has been unclear among the sea’s five littoral states –Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan –since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The Caspian Sea legal regime is based on two agreements signed between Iran and the Soviet Union in 1921 and 1940.

Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan — the three new littoral states established after the collapse of Soviet Russia — do not recognize the prior treaties, triggering a debate on the future status of the sea.