Iran’s Education Minister Meets His Azeri Counterpart

Baku, July 14, IRNA - Islamic Republic of Iran’s Education Minister Hamid-Reza Haji-Baba'ie met with Azerbaijan Minister of Education Misir Mardanov, here on Friday. “Some third countries are impeding friendship between Tehran and Baku; Iran and Azerbaijan have joint cultural, historical relations; the two countries have good potentials for expansion of ties in all fields including the field of education,” Haji-Baba'ie said. The Azerbaijani minister of education for his part referred to the long ties between Baku and Tehran and stressed the two countries’ commitment to facilitate exchange of students. “Increased visits between the two countries’ officials can help boost the relations against enemy plots which aim to divide the two states,” Mardanov noted. Islamic Republic of Iran’s education minister met with Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov here also late Thursday. Mammadyarov, head of Azerbaijan-Iran Joint Economic Cooperation Commission, expressed hope that trade cooperation between Iran and Azerbaijan will be further strengthened within the boundaries of the commission. Haji-Baba'ie has travelled to the Republic of Azerbaijan to submit President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s letter of invitation to his Azeri counterpart, Elham Aliyev, to attend the upcoming summit of the non-aligned movement (NAM) in Tehran. The 16th NAM summit will be held in Tehran from August 26-31. During the NAM summit meeting, the Islamic Republic of Iran will receive the NAM rotating chairmanship for the next three-year period. Egypt hosted the NAM ministerial meeting from May 9-10, 2012. The Non-Aligned Movement includes 118 member states representing the interests and priorities of developing countries. Iran will receive the rotating presidency of the movement from Egypt for three years during the Tehran summit. Venezuela will host the 17th summit of the NAM in 2015. NAM was founded in former Yugoslavia in 1961. The countries of the Non-Aligned Movement represent nearly two-thirds of the UN members and contain 55 percent of the world population. NAM's purpose as stated in the Havana Declaration of 1979 is to ensure “the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of the non-aligned countries.” Iran has an embassy in Baku and a consulate-general in the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan. Azerbaijan has an embassy in Tehran and a consulate-general in Tabriz. Iran and Azerbaijan have had diplomatic relations since the latter's independence from the former Soviet Union. The two countries have a majority Shia population and share many cultural commonalities. The Islamic Republic of Iran has made extensive mediation efforts to settle the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Karabakh./end