Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Friday, Mehr reports.

Pezeshkian traveled to Stepanakert, the capital of Azerbaijani-occupied Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), to participate in the 17th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), and emphasized Iran’s commitment to fostering regional collaboration and stability.

President Pezeshkian landed at Varanda (Fuzuli) International Airport  in occupied Artsakh on Friday, where he was received with an official welcome and honor guard.

He then traveled to Stepanakert, the host city for this year’s ECO summit, scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

The Iranian president was invited by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and is expected to deliver a keynote address and hold bilateral meetings with several other heads of state attending the summit. 

The summit brings together leaders from across the ECO member states, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Kyrgyzstan's President Sadyr Japarov.

These high-level discussions are “part of the organization's ongoing efforts to deepen economic, technical, and cultural cooperation across Central Asia, South Asia, the Caucasus, and West Asia.”