ArmInfo.The Russian side, as the organizer of this meeting, presented its document, in which it outlined its vision of the prospects for practical cooperation projects in this format. These include the economy, energy, trade, transport, information communication technologies, energy resources and the humanitarian sphere. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told on October 23 following the Ministerial Meeting of the 3+3 Consultative Regional Platform for the South Caucasus.
It should be noted that today a meeting of the foreign ministers of Armenia, Iran, Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan in the "3+2 Format" was held in Tehran, due to the fact that Georgia refused to take part in the meeting. The participants of the meeting, which was held under the motto "Peace, cooperation and progress in the South Caucasus", discussed the situation in the region and the development of regional cooperation in the political and economic fields, as well as in the fields of security, transport, energy, etc. The agenda also includes the search for ways to resolve Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict.
Lavrov noted that there was agreement on all of the abovementioned formats; the parties agreed that each of the participating countries would appoint a representative, who would formulate a national position on each of the mentioned formats. At the same time, he added that then all this will be coordinated by the Turkish side, which will host the second meeting of the platform, approximately in the first half of 2024. The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry also informed that the head of the Iranian Foreign Ministry will give specific assessments of the meeting. "We also paid a lot of attention to the geopolitical situation in the region. We expressed satisfaction with the processes of normalization of relations between Yerevan and Baku, between Azerbaijan and Iran, between Armenia and Turkey. By the way, Russia actively supports normalization processes in all these areas and will continue to do so," Lavrov added, noting that the situation around Palestine was also discussed at the meeting.
At the same time, the Russian diplomat reiterated that the door for Georgia still remains open. "We understand the reasons why the Georgian leadership has so far refrained from joining the six, and we appreciate that the Georgian leadership is open to doing so in the future, as far as we understand it. In all circumstances, the current authorities in Tbilisi., as they have proven more than once, in all their actions they proceed from fundamental national interests, and this gives reason to believe that a full-fledged format of the platform can work in the near future," Lavrov said.
When asked to comment on the position of Yerevan, Baku and Moscow towards this format, Lavrov stated that Armenia has a positive attitude, since it participates in it.
"As for the attitude of this format to what is happening between Yerevan and Baku, the conflict has been largely resolved. Both sides agreed that Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan, and this was the main unresolved problem. Now, of course, there remain practical steps to complete normalization of relations, primarily on the preparation of a peace treaty, delimitation of borders, establishment of transport and economic ties without obstacles, as agreed by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia," Lavrov added, while noting that these aspects were not directly discussed on the platform.
Regarding the issue of demarcation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Lavrov reminded the specially created commission on that issue and expressed regret that a meeting of it was not organized for a long time. "Although this has been ongoing over the past year, there have been attempts to infiltrate this process from the EU and, to some extent, the United States. We are not against any contacts that both Armenians and Azerbaijanis find useful. But all experts know that everything necessary in order to discuss and agree on the delimitation, including, first of all, the maps remaining from Soviet times are only in the hands of the Russian Federation," he recalled, adding that the partners understand this, and the Russian Federation is not trying to make a big problem out of this.
"Let them try their luck in Brussels, if they so desire. But we are always ready to really help, to begin practical delimitation," the Russian minister noted.