Trend, Azerbaijan
Sept 19 2010
Iran has supported and will support Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict – Iran’s Vice President
19.09.2010 13:08
Iran, Tehran, September 19 /Trend, E.Huseynov /
Iran initially supported, supports today and will continue to support
Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh issue, Iranian Vice President for
Parliamentary Affairs Seyyed Mohammad-Reza Mir-Tajeddini said Sunday
in Tehran.
“We have always supported Azerbaijan and denounced the occupation of
Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia,” said Mir-Tajeddini on Iran-Azerbaijan
conference “Azerbaijan: past experiences and the upcoming prospects.”
Mir-Tajeddini said the Caucasus region, in particular, Azerbaijan is
very important both for Iran and the world. According to him, the
region has important geopolitical location, is rich in energy
resources with access to the sea, there are equally living
representatives of all religions.
Referring to the Iranian-Azerbaijani relations, the vice president
said that Iran has such religious similarities with no other Muslim
country – 95 percent of Azerbaijan’s population are Muslims, most of
them Shiites.
Mir-Tajeddini called energy, cargo transportation, food industry, new
technologies important areas for cooperation between the two
countries. In his view, important areas are also the joint fight
against terrorism and drug trafficking, protecting the environment.
Vice-President noted there are also a number of problems in relations
between the two neighbouring countries, including determining the
status of the Caspian Sea, some issues in energy policy and military
agreements signed by the two countries.
Mir-Tajeddini considers important the further integration of Muslim
countries by lifting the visa regime between them. Iran has already
abolished visa regime with Azerbaijan, which is the first such step in
bilateral relations, he said.
One-day conference is being held at Tehran University, organized by
the Caucasus Studies Institute (Iran) and the Embassy of Azerbaijan in
Iran.
From: A. Papazian