A trilateral meeting between Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia, dedicated to issues of cooperation in the field of transport, energy and customs, took place on Monday, October 13, in Baku. This was reported by Azerbaijani state media.
The meeting, co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Shahin Mustafayev, Minister of Roads and Urban Development of Iran Farzaneh Sadegh and Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexei Overchuk, was attended by authorized representatives of the relevant departments of three countries.
Speaking at the event, Shahin Mustafayev stated Azerbaijan’s commitment to the principles of good neighborliness, mutual understanding and equal partnership in relations with Iran and Russia and in this regard expressed confidence that multifaceted relations with both countries will continue to develop in the spirit of friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation both bilaterally and in trilateral formats, filling with new content.
It was said that a similar trilateral format of meetings was created on the initiative of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and within the framework of this initiative, summits of the heads of the three states were held in 2016 in Baku, and in 2017 in Tehran. Today’s discussions are of great importance from the point of view of further expansion of trade, economic, transport and energy ties between the three countries.
Mustafayev drew attention to the need to promote trade and economic cooperation between the three countries based on the principles of equality and mutual benefit.
The exceptional role of the Declaration of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Iran was emphasized and the Russian Federation dated August 8, 2016 and the Joint Statement dated November 1, 2017 on economic cooperation, the development of safe and reliable regional and international transport corridors, as well as the implementation of projects in the energy sector.
It was noted that cooperation in the field of transport, energy and customs is of great importance in the context of trilateral relations Azerbaijan – Iran – Russia.
Regarding the importance of the Middle Corridor, the Deputy Prime Minister brought to the attention of the meeting participants that since 2022, the volume of cargo transportation along this corridor has increased by approximately 90%, and travel time has decreased noticeably.
Mustafayev also said that on October 14, delegations of the three countries will jointly inspect important infrastructure facilities of the international transport corridor “North – South”.
After the speeches of Alexey Overchuk and Farzaneh Sadegh, a wide discussion took place on current issues on the agenda of trilateral cooperation in the field of transport, energy and customs.
Following the results of the trilateral meeting, a Communiqué was adopted.