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This was the third official visit to the neighbouring country which has historical, cultural and regional ties with Azerbaijan going back many centuries.

The official welcoming ceremony for Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev took place at the Saadabad Palace where a guard of honour was lined up and national anthems were played. A one-to-one meeting between the head of the Azerbaijani Republic and the IRI President Hassan Rouhani was held here, followed by one in extended format involving members of the delegations.

The sides discussed a broad range of issues of world and regional politics and bilateral relations. At the end of the talks, a number of bilateral documents were signed. These included a memorandum on mutual understanding in cooperation between the ministries of youth and sport; a memorandum on mutual understanding in cooperation in the aftermath of emergency situations between the Azerbaijani Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Iranian Interior Ministry; a memorandum on mutual understanding in cooperation in the sphere of hydrometeorology between the Azerbaijani Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and the Iranian Ministry of Roads and Town Planning and an inter-governmental agreement on cooperation in the construction and operation of the Ordubad and Morazan hydro-electric power stations. 

After the signing ceremony there was a briefing for the media. President Ilham Aliyev said: "I am very pleased to be on fraternal Iranian soil. I am sure that my visit to Iran will be an important step for the development of relations between Iran and Azerbaijan." The Azerbaijani leader went on to speak positively about joint work at the UN, the Islamic Cooperation Organization, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and the Non-Aligned Movement. Ilham Aliyev expressed his commitment to the development of bilateral relations, saying: "We want our relations to develop successfully in all spheres and there are now excellent opportunities to achieve this." The Azerbaijani president made special reference to cooperation in the oil and gas sphere and also, which was a new thing, in the military sphere. He expressed his gratitude to the Iranian side for their support for Azerbaijan's position in the question of a settlement to the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict and he supported Iran's right to develop a peaceful nuclear programme.

At the end of his speech Ilham Aliyev expressed his profound thanks to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for his invitation and the hospitality shown to him, and invited him to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan. The invitation was accepted with thanks and would be carried out in the shortest available time.

In his speech in reply, IRI President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran and Azerbaijan are two close neighbouring, friendly countries and stressed: "There are no obstacles in the way of the further development of relations between our two friendly countries at all levels." He went on to say: "Our intentions coincide in questions of the further development of relations in the oil, petrochemical, power-engineering, water and other spheres. By our talks today and the signing of documents we have created a reliable platform for further broad and all-round development."

On the question of defining the legal status of the Caspian Sea and cooperation in this sphere, the IRI president expressed the opinion of both sides that it would not be long before a final decision was made. This is an important statement, bearing in mind that it was disagreement between Tehran and Baku which in many ways obstructed the reaching of a compromise agreement between the "Caspian Five". Speaking about Tehran's position on regional conflicts, President Rouhani said: "We are in favour of all conflicts in the region, including the Karabakh conflict, being resolved justly within the context of the decisions adopted at international level. From our point of view, a change in the geographical borders in the region is unacceptable. We must pool our efforts to ensure that such questions are resolved by peaceful means and by way of negotiations."

At the conclusion of his one-day but very eventful visit, President Ilham Aliyev met Iran's religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who stressed in a conversation the need for a rapprochement not only of the two peoples, but also governments, at the same time expressing concern at certain trends towards an increase in religious extremism, which is the result of "seeds of enmity" sown between various schools of the followers of Islam. "We cannot allow such attempts, including causing damage to ethnic unity and the stability of the state, to succeed," the Iranian leader stressed.

President Ilham Aliyev's visit to Iran was of short duration, but its importance should not be measured by the number of documents signed, meetings held or sensational statements. This visit was important from the point of view of resuming an intensive political dialogue with our southern neighbour at the highest level and at the level of foreign ministries and the main ministries and departments. I recall that at the beginning of this year President Aliyev had already met with his newly elected Iranian counterpart at the World Economic Forum in Davos. A tripartite meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey was held in Van on 14 March. The Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and special representative on questions of the Caspian, Ebrahim Rahimpour, visited Baku that same month. One may also mention the official visit to Iran last month by the Azerbaijani Minister of Emergency Situations Kamaladdin Heydarov. It has been announced that following the head of state's visit to Iran, Azerbaijan's Defence Minister Col-Gen Zakir Hasanov will be going to Tehran.

Generally speaking, intensive and many-sided inter-state and inter-governmental contacts between the neighbouring countries, in addition to the closely related historical, cultural and religious communities, are the norm. This is evident in the example of Azerbaijan's relations with Turkey, Georgia, Russia and Kazakhstan. The dialogue with Iran has been somewhat disturbed in recent years, however, and relations have not been noted for any special "warmth". A serious information campaign was unleashed against Azerbaijan by the "Sahar-2" TV channel, which broadcasts in Azeri. Inappropriate warnings and even threats were publicly expressed against Azerbaijan by deputies of the Iranian parliament, religious figures and also high-ranking military officers. There has been stagnation in trade and many projects in the cultural sphere have been wound down. And the UN's sanctions which were imposed on Iran because of their nuclear programme created additional obstacles for the development of relations between the two neighbours.

Such a situation does nothing for the interests of Azerbaijan or the IRI. During the election campaign Hassan Rouhani pointed to a review and a strengthening of relations with its closest neighbours, as well as a readiness for compromise to remove the fears of the international community in relation to the nuclear programme, as a priority of foreign policy. Following Hassan Rouhani's election as president, Tehran has resumed a dialogue with the so-called "six" (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany), and the specific steps taken by the Iranian government have helped to ease somewhat the sanctions imposed by the western countries. This clears away the obstacles for cooperation both from the point of view of conducting vital banking and financial operations using foreign currency and the restrictions preventing the implementation of important projects in the sphere of power engineering, communications and state-of-the-art technology.

There is a vested interest in increasing the volume of bilateral and multilateral relations. In this context, it is possible to speed up work to complete the construction of the Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway and the full-scale launch of the North-South transport corridor. Azerbaijani experts have great experience of reviving oil fields that have run low, and in recent years they have been making active use of modern western technology in this regard. Their knowledge, geographical proximity and easy adaptation to local conditions could be in wide demand. If current sanctions are completely lifted the increasing volumes of Iranian gas could be directed towards European markets by way of the SOCAR-projected TANAP and TAP export pipelines. If agreement can be reached on the status of the Caspian, joint projects for oil and gas production in the border offshore fields could also be implemented for the benefit of both sides.

Neighbourly relations between Azerbaijan and Iran seriously strengthen regional security and allow for transport communications with the Naxcivan Autonomous Republic, which has been blockaded by Armenia for many years, to be reliably maintained. It is significant that by means of an exchange of supplies of gas and electricity with Iran that the stability of supplies to this Azerbaijani autonomy is increased. As a result of the improvement in mutual understanding between Baku and Tehran one may forecast a broadening of joint programmes in the humanitarian sphere, too. In short, President Ilham Aliyev's visit to Tehran opens a new page in Azerbaijan-Iranian relations and it is important to maintain this upward-looking dynamic in every way.