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Lavrov arrives in Tehran to attend 3+3 format meeting on situation in South Caucasus

According to the report, the peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia are the top agenda item

© Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS

TEHRAN, October 23. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived in Tehran to participate in a ministerial meeting of the consultative 3+3 regional platform focusing on developments in the South Caucasus, a TASS correspondent reports.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed the minister's participation in the consultations.

According to Iranian state news agency IRNA, the foreign ministers intend to discuss the latest developments in the South Caucasus, as well as issues of regional security cooperation. The agency named peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia as the top agenda item.

The initiative for a six-party format of cooperation in the South Caucasus was launched in late 2020 by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The format was later named 3+3. Russia and Iran welcomed the idea, while Armenia also joined the format. Georgia said it had no plans to participate in the initiative. On December 10, 2021, the first meeting of the consultative regional platform at the level of deputy foreign ministers of the five countries was held in Moscow. Georgia abstained from the meeting in 2021 as well as from today’s meeting in Tehran at the foreign ministerial level.

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