Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov at a press conference following talks with Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian on Wednesday said he discussed with his Iranian counterpart the initiative of creating a "3+3" negotiating format with Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Turkey to unblock economic and transport ties in the region.
Lavrov pointed out that it was Moscow that played a decisive role in stopping the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and concluding a trilateral agreement at the level of the presidents of Azerbaijan, Russia and the Armenian prime minister, according to which a Russian peacekeeping contingent is deployed in the region.
"In addition, the same joint statement contained principles that define joint steps to advance the settlement, including work to unblock all transport communications, to unblock all economic ties in the region, which will benefit not only Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also Georgia. Iran, Russia and Turkey as the closest neighbors of these three republics," the Russian foreign minister said. - "Today we discussed an initiative to create a "3+3" format - three Transcaucasian countries and their three big neighbors - Russia, Iran and Turkey."
According to Lavrov, the Iranian side expressed a positive attitude to the idea, the same attitude is observed in Azerbaijan and Turkey. "We are working with our Armenian colleagues. We expect that Georgia too, despite all the problems it is experiencing, will be able to see its root interest in creating such a mechanism for consultations and coordination of solutions for the accelerated development of this region, which has long held back its development because of the conflicts that persist here," the Russian foreign minister added.
A joint statement by the leaders of the three countries was signed on November 9, 2020, and made it possible to achieve a complete cessation of military actions in the conflict zone around Nagorno-Karabakh, which had been taking place there since September 27. According to the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides halted at the occupied positions, then a number of areas came under Baku's control, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the line of contact and the Lachin corridor.
On January 11, at the initiative of Russian president Vladimir Putin, a meeting with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and Armenian prime ,minister Nikol Pashinyan was held in Moscow. The outcome of the trilateral talks was an agreement to create a working group at the level of deputy prime ministers of the three countries to establish transport and economic ties in the region.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS