Iran, Azerbaijan ink three-year sports cooperation deal
Iran and Azerbaijan signed a three-year program on sports and youth cooperation covering 2026-2028.
The agreement was signed in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, by Iran’s Minister of Sports and Youth Ahmad Donyamali and his Azeri counterpart Farid Gayibov after talks aimed at fostering cooperation in the sector, Mehr News Agency reported on Friday.
Donyamali said the two countries should strengthen what he called “sports diplomacy.”
Gayibov welcomed closer ties, saying that his country was ready to enhance sports cooperation with Iran in all fields
Under the program, Iran and Azerbaijan agreed to increase cooperation between sports federations, hold joint training camps and competitions, promote exchanges of coaches and athletes, expand cooperation in education, research and talent identification, and build up the use of each country’s capabilities in the fields of sport and youth.
During the meeting, Donyamali thanked the Azerbaijani government and people for expressing sympathy following the martyrdom of the leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli strike on his residence in Tehran on February 28 and conveyed Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s greetings to the Azerbaijani people and President Ilham Aliyev.
The Iranian delegation included Ambassador Mojtaba Damirchilou, Deputy Minister for Championship and Professional Sports Development Mohammad Shervin Asbaghian, Director General for International Affairs Mohammad Hassan Taghizadeh, Director General for Public Relations and Information Mohsen Motamedkia, and Alireza Hedayatpour, deputy for cultural cooperation and NGOs at Iran’s Public Diplomacy Centre of the Foreign Ministry.