Baku embarks on economic journey with Tehran Art of proposals on Caliber.Az

Another contribution to the strengthening of Azerbaijan's strategic relations in the region - this is perhaps how Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov's visit to Iran can be described. And this new period in the Baku-Tehran partnership is the final chord in the formation of that unified system of strategic relations of Azerbaijan, where everything is taken into account and thought out. By the way, Caliber.Az has already written about this strategy.

Bayramov's visit to Tehran has become a mission of Azerbaijani diplomacy with a very deep subtext. Right now Baku is making a serious bet on strengthening political and economic ties with Iran, to which the latter willingly responds. Cooperative relations with Iran are significant for Azerbaijan at least as an element of security on the southern borders, and at most as a full-fledged economic partnership in various fields, including transit with access to the Middle East.

And it seems that all the tasks set by Azerbaijani diplomacy in this direction are being successfully solved. Bayramov's visit to Tehran is a clear indicator of these processes. But, as they say, not long ago, less than a year ago, Iran and Azerbaijan were at odds, with Baku and Tehran exchanging harsh statements. Iran has even attempted to test weapons near our borders. And such a very stressful period lasted more than a month.

However, Baku's confident and extremely transparent position had a beneficial effect on Tehran, moreover, created prerequisites for increasing cooperation. In Tehran, they simply realised that Azerbaijan cannot be penetrated by raids, but building full-fledged cooperation is the most important thing because Baku can offer much more interesting and, most importantly, profitable projects than Armenia, which is so close to Iran.

But friendship is friendship, and business is business – in this sense, Baku literally boarded - offered Tehran a whole package of global economic projects, ranging from laying road and automobile communications as an alternative to the Zangazur corridor through Iran to large-scale energy cooperation. And the Iranians appreciated it; in fact, they jumped at these proposals.

The recent meeting of [Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev with [Iranian counterpart] Ebrahim Raisi at the Caspian Summit added "cement" to consolidate the foundation of relations, raising relations to a new level of trust and cooperation.

With such an impressive list of projects and proposals developed in a short period of time, Azerbaijani diplomacy, represented by the foreign minister, carried out another visit to Iran. However, the term "official visit" means at least that Azerbaijan has sent its mission this time to negotiate in a variety of directions and for sure.

And the rich programme of Bayramov's trip, and the return from it, apparently, justifies all expectations. The Azerbaijani foreign minister was received by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, and this is also an indicator of the level of relations. And Raisi's statements during the meeting inspire considerable optimism.

The fundamental moment of the first stage of strategic cooperation is, of course, Aliyev's expected visit to Iran. The significance of the upcoming event was emphasized by Raisi.

"With the Azerbaijani president's visit to Tehran, we will see a leap in relations between the two countries," the Iranian president said, and this confident message speaks for itself. Raisi also recalled with satisfaction his previous meetings with the Azerbaijani leader.

Bayramov, in turn, told him about the projects implemented jointly by the two countries in energy, transport and communications. And another impressive fact: the Azerbaijani foreign minister, communicating with the Iranian president, also pointed out some "red lines" of future relations. "The Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan agree that regional issues should be resolved by the regional countries and without the interference of outsiders," Bayramov stressed.

And then Bayramov's meeting with his colleague, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Abdollahian and the subsequent press conference summed up some of the results of the negotiations.

The visit itself was held in a warm and friendly atmosphere, and the Azerbaijani minister thanked Iran for the invitation and hospitality. He also noted that the holding of two meetings by the Azerbaijani and Iranian leaders is a good indicator of strengthening relations. In particular, Bayramov also announced some figures, for example, that by the end of 2021, the trade turnover between the two countries increased by 30 per cent, and in the first half of 2022 - by 18 per cent.

Then they talked about joint creative activities, and prospects for Azerbaijani-Iranian projects, which are becoming more and more. Thus, Bayramov noted the importance of the future hydroelectric power plants Khudafarin and Giz Galasi, the International Transport Corridor North-South - facilities where the two countries are already working side by side. In addition, the importance of continuing the construction of the railway terminal in Astara and the bridge over Astarachay was noted. Speaking about the restoration and construction works carried out by Azerbaijan on the liberated territories, Bayramov noted with satisfaction the participation of Iranian companies in this process.

Meanwhile, on the eve of Bayramov's visit, on June 3, Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov and Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji signed a memorandum of understanding in Baku, which provides for the expansion of bilateral gas cooperation for the development of a number of fields in the Caspian Sea. And this is a completely different round of cooperation, although Azerbaijan and Iran have their own business history here: Azerbaijan receives swap deliveries of Turkmen gas from Iran.

Azerbaijan has successfully removed Armenia from large-scale cooperation with Iran, based on the unprecedented rise in cooperation between Baku and Tehran. According to a simple principle, Tehran has the opportunity to ensure that everything Baku offers is implemented quickly and efficiently, whereas Yerevan's project projects are still on paper. It is enough to recall the "great" Armenian long-term project - the North-South highway connecting Iran and Armenia, about which Caliber.Az has previously written. The "cooperation" here was so "fruitful" that the cross-border highway, loudly advertised at various talks by [Armenian] Prime Minister Pashinyan, turned out to be a hole in a bagel - at the moment, only 7-8 per cent of the highway has been laid by Armenia, and it will most certainly not be completed in this "five-year plan."

Iran is well aware of this depressing fact, and therefore the Azerbaijani delegation in Tehran is a special honour and friendly respect. As the Iranian foreign minister himself noted on his Twitter post, "I had an important and friendly dialogue with my brother Jeyhun Bayramov on bilateral, regional and international issues with an emphasis on the peaceful settlement (of the conflict) in Karabakh in accordance with the principle of respect for territorial integrity and national sovereignty".

However, the most significant and strategic plan, whose implementation the parties discussed with interest at the meeting, was still the launch of an alternative Zangazur – a road and railway line along the Araz River through Iran, which, of course, will significantly weaken Yerevan's position if the latter continues to torpedo all peaceful undertakings.

Abdollahian, in particular, informed about Iran's determination to start implementing the points of the Memorandum of Understanding on the creation of new communication links between the Eastern Zangazur Economic Region and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan via Iran, which indicates that the project is almost ready. And very soon it is expected to launch another large-scale format of cooperation - Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Iran, which, it seems, will finally consolidate Iran's transition to a new stage of interaction with the Turkic countries.

"During last week's visit to Ankara with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, we agreed to hold a trilateral meeting of Iran, Azerbaijan and Türkiye in Tehran at the level of foreign ministers," Abdollahian said at a joint press conference with the Azerbaijani foreign minister.

Summing up the results of the visit, we can say with a sufficient degree of confidence that Azerbaijan is effectively developing economic and political relations with Iran, involving Tehran in an increasing number of projects, and building a completely new strategy of cooperation both in the South Caucasus and throughout the Middle East.