APA- The route Azerbaijan is a reliable and safe direction for Iran, Ali Rabii, Iran's minister of cooperatives, labor and social welfare said at the meeting with Ali Hasanov, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the State Committee for Work with Refugees and IDPs.

The Iranian minister said that joint projects are being implemented in improvement of transport and road infrastructure: �Currently, the works on Rasht-Astara (Azerbaijan)-Astara (Iran) are underway. This will cause launch of new jobs and population to benefit these routes. At the same time, there are opportunities for cooperation in passenger and cargo transportation in sea transport�.

Hasanov noted that Iran-Azerbaijan relations are developing day-by-day: �Iranian state and population are friend for us. We have same religion, at the same time similarities in languages, traditions, history and culture�.

They also discussed other issues for development of economic and humanitarian cooperation.