A meeting has taken place between the President of the Azerbaijani Republic Ilham Aliyev and the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Sayyid Ali Khameneyi.

Sayyid Ali Khameneyi recalled with satisfaction his meetings with the national leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev and the frank conversations that were held during these meetings. He expressed confidence that the Azerbaijani president’s visit would serve the cause of the further broadening of cooperation between the two countries. Sayyid Ali Khameneyi expressed the hope that Iranian-Azerbaijani relations would continue to develop successfully and noted that the closeness and common roots of the two peoples and states would make their contribution to the development of relations. The Supreme Leader of Iran noted that his country is in favour of a settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh on the basis of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. Sayyid Ali Khameneyi stressed that the Azerbaijani president has great experience and conveyed wishes of well-being to the Azerbaijani people.

President Ilham Aliyev noted that bilateral relations are developing successfully and the common nature of the historical, cultural and religious roots between the two countries creates a solid basis for the development of relations. The Azerbaijani head of state stressed that Azerbaijan and Iran support one another in the international arena and drew attention to the fact that the joint commission that had been set up would play an important role in the broadening of relations.

The Azerbaijani president noted the significance of the further broadening of relations between the two countries and peoples. The Azerbaijani head of state stressed the importance of a settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh, which has arisen as a result of Armenia’s aggression, exclusively within the context of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, on the basis of the norms and principles of international law. Noting that both countries possess the political will for the development of relations, President Ilham Aliyev expressed confidence that these relations would continue to broaden in the future.