On December 28, 2016, Socar reported that its CEO Rovnag Abdullayev met with a delegation led by Mahmoud Vaezi, Iran's Minister of Communication and Information Technology, co-chairman of intergovernmental commission.
Mahmoud Vaezi arrived at Baku on Tuesday for a 3-day visit to attend the 11th meeting of the Azerbaijani-Iranian intergovernmental commission on economic, trade and humanitarian issues.
Welcoming the guests, Socar´s CEO Rovnag Abdullayev spoke about strengthening of cooperation between oil and gas companies of the two countries.
Touching upon the relations between Socar and Iranian companies, Mr. Abdullayev emphasized the deepening of professional relations among the oil industry experts.
He informed the guests on the socio-economic development and achievements gained within the energy strategy of the country.
Relations between Tehran and Baku has expanded over the past years particularly during the Rouhani administration.
In a February visit to Tehran by President Aliyev, the two sides signed 11 memorandums of understanding in areas of transportation, electricity swap, health and medicine, oil, gas, and petrochemicals, etc.
Also, Iran and Azerbaijan have been working on a key North-South transport corridor, which is expected to connect Northern Europe to Southeast Asia through their territories, a key theme in Vaezi’s talks with Azeri officials during his visit.
Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Iran amounted to $175 million in January-November 2016, $130.13 million of which explained by imports from Iran, according to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan.
Iranian companies have so far invested $2.6 billion in Azerbaijan’s economy, some $145 million of which is accounted for by investment in the country’s non-oil sector.
The investment has been the result of more than 450 Iranian companies operating in Azerbaijan.