Iran's Rohani pays his first visit to Azerbaijan

(RFE/RL) - Iranian President Hassan Rohani is due to travel to Baku on November 12 at the start of an official visit to Azerbaijan.

Rohani will meet with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev and will also deliver a speech to the mainly Muslim country's parliament.

Rohani is also scheduled to hold talks with senior Azeri officials and sign a number of trade deals between Tehran and Baku.

Iran and Azerbaijan have the ability to boost trade turnover to $10 billion, according to Mahmud Vaezi, the co-chair fo the Azerbaijani-Iran intergovernmental commission on economic, trade and humanitarian cooperation.

Vaezi traveled to Baku last week for talks to prepare for Rohani's two-day visit.

Bilateral relations have improved following a period of tension, which peaked in 2012 when Azerbaijani authorities arrested a number of men with alleged links to Iran who were reportedly plotting attacks in Azerbaijan.