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 first 3+3 format meeting was held on the foreign ministerial level in Moscow in 2021. However, Georgia rejected the session and did not participate.
Gonchar added that Russia is convinced that the 3+3 consultative regional platform is relevant stemming from interests of expanding mutually-beneficial cooperation of participating countries.
“As a reminder, in December of 2021, during the inaugural meeting, a decision was made to focus on topics of common interest – development of trade-economic, transport, cultural-humanitarian ties, and the fight against common challenges and threats,” Gonchar added.
Russia attaches special significance to utilizing the transit potential of the region, and the restoration of transport routes would contribute to that, the foreign ministry official said.
Gonchar added that prospects of joint work in energy are also of major interest.
“Such cooperation would contribute to strengthening trust in the region through establishment of multilateral regional ties and will become one of the pillars for supporting the Armenian-Azerbaijani and Armenian-Turkish normalization processes,” Gonchar said.
