Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani held an expanded meeting with delegations, following an official meeting on Nov. 12.

Both presidents delivered speeches at the meeting.

President Ilham Aliyev warmly welcomed his Iranian counterpart.

"Welcome to Azerbaijan, Mr. President. I was informed that today is Your birthday. I heartily congratulate You on your birthday, I wish You health, and new success. I am glad that today You are with us, in Azerbaijan. This is Your first official visit to Azerbaijan as president. I am confident that the visit will be successful and will add new impetus to our bilateral relations," said Azerbaijani president.

Ilham Aliyev also recalled his official visit to Iran.

"In April of this year I visited Your beautiful country, and we held a wide exchange of views, and today this dialogue continues," he said.

Azerbaijani president also said he was happy to see Rouhani arrived accompanied by a delegation, and added that the relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have great history and a bright future.

Ilham Aliyev said the relations of the two countries have entered a new stage.

"We have a very broad agenda," he said. "We discuss political, economic, cultural and humanitarian issues. The basis of our relations are historical ties, the history of common culture, which is the symbol of our current developing ties."

Azerbaijani president said he is confident that the negotiations, exchange of opinions will boost the Azerbaijani-Iranian ties further.

"There are many issues to discuss, and they are all discussed in a sincere atmosphere," Ilham Aliyev said. "We share the same purpose: to bring our countries and peoples even more together. It is our goal and we are going towards it."

President Rouhani, in turn, thanked Ilham Aliyev, saying he was happy to arrive in brotherly, friendly, neighboring Azerbaijan, accompanied by a large delegation.

Rouhani said Iran and Azerbaijan share the same values.

"We see this visit on level of the previous meetings, so it could become a step forward for developing and strengthening of ties," Rouhani said.

"We've met in Davos, Tehran, Astrakhan, and today in Baku, we've held discussions, and this is our fourth meeting," he said. "I think that in four stages, we've made steps forward. There are no doubts that the ties between our countries will serve the interests of our peoples."

Iran's president noted that both countries can use the existing opportunities for expanding the ties between the two countries

"At all the previous meetings, at the meetings of officials, and reached agreements, we used just a small part of existing opportunities between the two states," Rouhani said. "But along with that, there is a big potential for cooperation in economic, cultural and border issues, as well as Caspian Sea, political and international issues."

Rouhani said both sides use all the opportunities for expanding the cooperation in all the spheres. The president added that all the talks on relevant issues will affect the expansion and strengthening of the two countries' ties in the near future.уAzerbaijan’s agricultural export on rise