Iran's Foreign Minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, who has traveled to Baku for consultations and exchanges of views on bilateral relations and regional and international developments, met and held talks on Monday afternoon with the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ms. Sahiba Gafarova.   During the meeting, the Iranian foreign minister highlighted the importance and position of the parliaments of the two countries in strengthening and deepening the friendly relations between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan.   He emphasized Iran’s readiness to expand relations in various areas, including in the economic, commercial, security, tourism, energy, transportation, and cultural fields.   The Azerbaijani speaker referred to the positive trend in bilateral relations between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, and considered the planning and implementation of joint economic projects and the strengthening of people-to-people relations in various economic and cultural fields to be very important for consolidating relations between the two countries.   She expressed the readiness of the National Assembly of the Republic of Azerbaijan to develop connections with Iran’s parliament, known as the Islamic Consultative Assembly.   During the meeting, which was also attended by the chairman and several members of the Iran-Republic of Azerbaijan Parliamentary Friendship Group, the two sides discussed and exchanged views on ways to expand exchanges between the two countries, especially through greater utilization of the capacities of the two parliaments and increased talks and contacts between the specialized or corresponding committees and the parliamentary friendship groups in each of the two legislatures.   In brief remarks during the meeting, Mohammadreza Mohseni, an Iranian MP and a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Iran's parliament, emphasized the role of parliamentary diplomacy in facilitating relations between countries and announced the readiness of the Iranian parliament to strengthen consultations with the National Assembly of the Republic of Azerbaijan.