Iran Education Minister Evaluates Visit Of Baku As Positive

Baku, July 14, IRNA – Iran’s Education Minister Hamid-Reza Haji-Baba’ie at end of his visit of Azerbaijan Republic and meeting with high ranking Azeri officials here Friday evaluated his visit of this neighboring country as positive. Haji-Baba’ie in an interview with IRNA Friday evening before departing Baku expressed satisfaction over his meetings with President Elham Aliev, Foreign Minister Elmar Mohammad Yarev, and Education Minister Masir Mardanev, adding, “All those three meetings took place amid a very intimate atmosphere.” Earlier in his visit the Iranian education minister had announced the objective of this trip as delivering President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s letter of invitation to his Azerbaijani counterpart, President Elham Aliev, for participation as Tehran Non-Aligned Movement Summit. After that visit President Aliev had expressed delight over meeting the special envoy of the IRI president and hoped for being able to attend the important international gathering in Tehran. The Iranian education minister’s second meeting on Thursday evening was with Azerbaijan Republic’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mohammad Yarev, in which the two sides emphasized need for expansion of the two neighboring countries’ relations. Haji-Baba’ie’s third meeting was with his counterpart, in which he referred to the numerous commonalties between the two nations, reiterating, “The Iranian and Azerbaijani nations have ever since remote past shared numerous commonalties in religious, historical and cultural fields, so that these commonalites have woven the fates of the two nations to each other.” The education minister of Azerbaijan, too, in the meeting welcomed Haji-Baba’ie to his country, considered Iran-Azerbaijan relations histirical, and reiterated, “Even during the time of the former soviet union’s time, Iran had good relations with the Azerbaijan Republic, and the Cousulate Office of Iran has been active in Baku ever since remote past.” He referred the presence of Iranian students in Baku universities, and Azeri students in Iranian universities, reiterating, “The students of both countries are faced with problems for continuing their studies and the concerned officials in two countries must tackle these problems. Haji-Baba’ie on Friday night departed Baku for Tehran./end