Azerbaijan republic keen to consolidate ties with Iran

An Azeri parliamentarian underlined Iran's increasing capabilities in various economic, political, cultural, defense, and scientific domains, and stressed that further expansion of relations with such an influential country in the region is atop Baku's foreign policy. Aidin Mirzazadeh underlined Iran's achievements in different fields and said that Iran can turn into one of the most powerful states in the region. He added that widening and deepening of friendly relations with Iran is among main priorities of Azerbaijan Republic's foreign policy. Iran has recently enhanced efforts to boost political, economic, security and cultural ties and cooperation with the regional and neighboring countries, specially the Central Asian states.In October 2012, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traveled to Baku to attend the 12th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). The Iranian and Azeri presidents met on the sidelines of the Summit, where both leaders reiterated the necessity for exploring new avenues to develop bilateral ties and cooperation.