In the meeting in Baku on Thursday, Kerimov congratulated the Iranians on Nowruz, and pointed to the longstanding traditions common between the two countries.

He also praised Iran’s stances in the recent military conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the internationally recognized as Azerbaijani land Nagorno Karabakh.

Kerimov said his country was ready to cooperate with Iran on different cultural and environmental issue, including common cultural heritage, Caspian Hyrcanian forests and historical places like Khoda-afarin Bridge.

Describing the Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi as a legacy of all mankind, the cultural minister offered to cooperate with Tehran on his works, including manuscripts.

Mousavi, for his part, highlighted the unrivaled level of commonality between Iran and Azerbaijan, saying that the relationship between the two countries was the true instance of ‘one nation, two states.’

He said that Tehran was ready to hold joint exhibitions and cultural-scientific events with Azerbaijan on Nezami, as a global scale poet who can be a cause of friendship between two countries.

Referring to the agreement signed between Iran and Azerbaijan on cultural exchanges which is due to expire soon, Mousavi offered to extend the agreement.

He also touched on Iran’s offer to establish a union of Caspian Sea states, including Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan Republic, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan and insisted on pursuing the initiative.

In relevant remarks earlier this month, Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Iran Bonyad Hosseinov said that the Azeri people and government praise the Iranian nation, specially Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, for supporting Azerbaijan during the Karabakh war.

“The Azeri people have not forgotten the support of Iran either during the First, or Second Karabakh war and will never forget it,” Hosseinov said, addressing an international conference on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in the central Iranian city of Qom.

He referred to the November 3 speech by Ayatollah Khamenei in which he voiced support for Azerbaijan, and said, “The people and government of Azerbaijan were informed of his remarks immediately and the deputy foreign minister contacted the Iranian ambassador and appreciated Iran.”

Hosseinov said that Azerbaijan has strengthened relations with Iran and has continued a similar path so far after empowerment of Haider Aliyev, stressing that Baku wants Tehran's partnership in the reconstruction of Karabakh.

The war in Nagorno-Karabakh re-erupted in late September 2020 between Armenia and Azerbaijan, becoming the worst fighting in the region in decades.

The two sides signed a ceasefire agreement to end the conflict in November 2020.

Under the agreement, Yerevan and Baku agreed on November 9 to end hostilities under a Moscow-brokered deal that secured territorial advances for Azerbaijan in Karabakh and seven surrounding districts.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has been populated by ethnic Armenians.