Iranian transport minister meets Azerbaijani President to boost economic cooperation

TEHRAN– Iran’s Transport and Urban Development Minister Farzaneh Sadegh, who also chairs the Iran-Azerbaijan Joint Economic Committee, met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku to discuss bilateral ties and economic cooperation.

According to a statement from Iran’s Transport and Urban Development Ministry on Tuesday, the meeting focused on expanding joint projects across key sectors including transportation, customs, water and energy, oil and gas, and preferential trade.

Sadegh is leading a high-level Iranian delegation to Azerbaijan from April 7 to 10 to review progress on past agreements, remove barriers to joint ventures, and lay the groundwork for an upcoming visit by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to Baku.

The visit includes field inspections of joint border infrastructure projects and the unveiling and signing of the Farsi and Azerbaijani versions of the joint committee’s cooperation document, which was originally signed during a session held in Tehran in February after a three-year hiatus. Both versions will be appended to the English-language document.

Proposals for a new memorandum of understanding on transport and border cooperation are also being discussed, aimed at facilitating deeper collaboration ahead of Pezeshkian’s trip.

Amin Tarafo’, advisor to the minister and head of the ministry’s international affairs office, said the current trip is being made at the formal invitation of Azerbaijan’s Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev.

He emphasized that the talks will build on recent momentum in bilateral trade, which grew by 20 percent in 2024 to a record $580 million. Iran aims to raise this figure to $10 billion within five years.

Sadegh’s meetings are expected to clear the way for a more robust bilateral partnership, with both countries seeking to activate untapped capacities in trade and infrastructure development.

EF/MA