Azernews.Az

Iran and Azerbaijan are determined to open a joint economic zone in Qoli Beiglou region, an Iranian provincial official said Sunday, News.az website reported referring to Fars news agency.

"The plan for setting up a joint economic zone between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan in Qoli Beiglou region is seriously being followed up and we hope to see its implementation soon," East Azarbaijan province's Governor-General Ahmad Alireza-Beigi said, addressing a provincial meeting on Sunday.

Earlier this month in a meeting in the northwestern city of Tabriz, Iranian and Azerbaijani officials discussed plans to open a joint economic zone between the two countries.

The issue was raised in a meeting between Alireza-Beigi and Azerbaijani Ambassador to Tehran Javanshir Akhoundov in Tabriz.

During the meeting, the two sides conferred on the plan to open a joint economic zone between Iran and Azerbaijan and they tasked the officials of Iran's Aras Free Trade Zone (AFTZ) with compiling the plan to be signed by the Iranian and Azerbaijani officials in the future.

Iran has recently enhanced efforts to boost political, economic, security and cultural ties and cooperation with the regional and neighboring countries, specially the Central Asian states.

In October, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traveled to Baku to attend the 12th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization. The summit was held at the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku.

The Iranian and Azerbaijani presidents met on the sidelines of the ECO summit.

Speaking to reporters at the end of his visit to Baku, President Ahmadinejad called the ECO summit in Azerbaijan as "very good and constructive".

He also expressed the hope that ECO would witness very positive outcomes during Azerbaijan's presidency.