MOSCOW, December 10. /TASS/. The next meeting of the 3+3 regional cooperation platform involving Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia as well as Russia, Turkey and Iran may be held in the next few months, a senior Russian diplomat told TASS.
"Work is currently underway to arrange a second 3+3 format meeting. We expect that it will take place in coming months," head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Fourth CIS Department Denis Gonchar said in an interview. "Judging by the mood of all participants, an invitation [to such a meeting] may be sent from Georgia," he hinted.
The Russia diplomat said Moscow believed this platform was needed to expand mutually advantageous cooperation between the participating countries.
According to Gonchar, Russia attaches particular significance to developing the region’s transport potential through restoration of transportation routes. "Potential joint efforts in projects to upgrade both transport and energy infrastructure are of great interest," he explained. "Such cooperation would contribute to fostering trust in the region by establishing multilateral regional ties and serve as a pillar in efforts to help return Armenia’s relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey back to normal," he concluded.
The initiative to establish a six-party platform to ensure cooperation on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and unblock economic and transport links in the Transcaucasia was put forward earlier by the leaders of Azerbaijan and Turkey, Ilham Aliyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Russia and Iran welcomed the idea, while Georgia said that it had no plans to participate in the regional initiative, but called on Baku and Yerevan to engage in trilateral talks on maintaining peace. On December 10, 2021, deputy foreign ministers held their first meeting as part of the 3+3 consultative group in Moscow.