Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey Hold Trilateral Meeting in Baku

The Sixth Trilateral Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey was held in Baku on September 6; where Mikheil Janelidze, Elmar Mammadyarov, and Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu signed the Baku Statement and Action Plan for Trilateral Sectoral Co-operation for 2017-2019.

The documents set forth specific projects and initiatives in the areas of economy, energy, agriculture, environment protection and innovative technologies.

Georgian Foreign Minister Janelidze stated that it is a unique mechanism established among three neighboring countries.

“We play an important role not only in the region, but also globally. All the three countries connect Europe and Asia. The trade and economic relations that are getting deeper and deeper between Europe and Asia owe a great deal to this link,” he added.

During the meeting, special attention was paid to the implementation of common transit and energy projects, in particular the need to open the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway in the near future. The importance of implementing the Southern Gas Corridor project was also highlighted.

The BTK railway is being constructed on the basis of a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. The peak capacity of the railway will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At the initial stage, this figure will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.

During his official visit to Baku, Georgia's Jenalidze also held face to face meetings with his Azerbaijani and Turkish counterparts.

By Thea Morrison