Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran seek to bolster ties
Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran pledge to strengthen peace, stability in the region, following the trilateral meeting of Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey, Elmar Mammadyarov, Mohammad Javad Zarif and Mevlut Cavusoglu in Baku.
Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran pledge to strengthen peace, stability in the region, following the trilateral meeting of Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey, Elmar Mammadyarov, Mohammad Javad Zarif and Mevlut Cavusoglu in Baku.
The fifth trilateral meeting between the foreign ministers since 2011, discussed a broad range of issues in various economic fields including transit, transportation, energy, and customs.
Prior to the main event, President Ilham Aliyev received delegations of both countries.
During the meeting with Javad Zarif, the President expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation between the two countries and noted that good results were achieved in implementation of joint projects.
Ilham Aliyev noted that the Iranian foreign minister’s visit to Azerbaijan for the second time in a month indicates to high level of relations, adding that the visit creates good opportunity for discussing the agenda of the two countries’ bilateral relations.
Touching upon the trilateral meeting of the Azerbaijani, Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers, the head of state stressed the importance of holding these meetings on a regular basis, and assessed the meeting of the ministers of the neighbor states as a good initiative.
Zarif also stressed the importance of holding the meetings in this format and expressed confidence that they would continue in the future.
During the meeting, the sides exchanged views on the prospects of bilateral relations in the banking, energy, transportation, trade and investment spheres.
While receiving Mevlut Cavusoglu, President Aliyev described the Azerbaijan-Turkey bilateral relations as excellent, emphasizing the significance of regular high-level reciprocal visits in strengthening ties between the two countries.
The head of state hailed the importance of the fact that the two countries continuously support and stand by each other.
Pointing to the launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the head of state described the project not only as regionally, but also an internationally important event.
Cavusoglu recalled his recent meeting with President Aliyev and the launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway this year, expressing confidence that important projects will be implemented under the leadership of the heads of state in the years to come.
Results of trilateral meeting
Baku Statement was adopted following the fifth trilateral meeting on December 20 according to which the sides reaffirmed their commitment to further enhancing solidarity and cooperation based on deep-rooted historical, religious and cultural commonalities and shared values.
The ministers underlined their commitment to further expanding cooperation to promote economic progress and sustainable development. The parties also agreed to continue close consultations on regional and global issues of common interest at different levels and platforms.
They also agreed to implement joint projects and programs in the fields of energy, transportation, banking, telecommunication, industry, agriculture, tourism and environment, with a focus on new projects for the development of transport and transit potential in the region.
They welcomed the commencement of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway link project which directly connected the three countries, stating that the project creates favorable conditions to increase the transit potential on various routes.
As for the relations among the banking networks, all parties agreed to share their experience and information on international banking procedures while combating money-laundering and the financing of terrorism. The ministers also stressed the importance of increased cooperation to fight against terrorism, separatism and violent extremism as well as other forms of crimes.
Moreover, Turkey and Iran welcome the candidature of Baku for hosting World EXPO-2025 in Azerbaijan.
Addressing a press conference dedicated to the results of the fifth trilateral meeting, Mammadyarov said that the parties agreed to continue holding meetings in the trilateral format, expand cooperation and use the potential in energy, transport, tourism and other spheres.
The Azerbaijani official noted that the ministers also discussed the Palestine-Israel conflict.
“As you know, a document will be adopted tomorrow on this issue at the UN General Assembly. We will vote in favor of that document,” added Mammadyarov. “Azerbaijan’s position on Al-Quds was voiced by President Ilham Aliyev at a summit in Istanbul. That's where we stand on this.”
Touching upon the energy cooperation, the minister said that the TANAP pipeline will be put into operation in 2018. The energy cooperation between Azerbaijan and Iran is growing day by day, stressing that electricity exchange is being expanded among the three countries.
“At our next meeting in Istanbul, we will invite people from both the private sector and the economic sector and discuss ways to further expand cooperation,” noted the official.
Meanwhile, the next trilateral meeting of Azerbaijani, Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers will be held in Turkey, according to Cavusoglu.
“We discussed issues related to further expansion of cooperation. We will host the next summit, and also bring together businessmen. Maybe a business meeting will be held,” he said.
Cavusoglu underlined that there are strong ties of friendship and brotherhood between the three countries: “This trilateral format will be expanded, and today's meeting was very useful.”
Speaking about the energy cooperation, the Turkish FM said that Azerbaijan and Iran are important countries for Turkey in terms of this field.
Turkey imports natural gas from Iran and intends to increase the volume of purchases, he noted. Currently, Turkey is the biggest gas customer of Iran and imports 30 million cubic meters per day from its eastern neighbor.
One of the most important energy projects – construction project of the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) – is currently being implemented between Turkey and Azerbaijan, said Cavusoglu.
TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and after completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline's construction natural gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020. The length of TANAP is 1,850 kilometers, with an initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters of gas. Around six billion cubic meters of this gas is meant to be delivered to Turkey, with the remaining volume to be supplied to Europe.
In turn, Zarif said that Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan have decided to involve the private sector in trilateral economic cooperation, noting that the trilateral format of cooperation is a useful method for cooperation in the region.
Saying that Iran Azerbaijan and Turkey enjoy a variety of spheres for cooperation, Zarif called for involving the private sector in cooperation in various fields of economy, energy, and transit.