Russia-Azerbaijan-Turkey inter-parliamentary friendship group to be created
By Amina Nazarli
Creation of a Russia-Azerbaijan-Turkey inter-parliamentary friendship group is on the agenda.
Russian MP, head of the Russia-Azerbaijan inter-parliamentary friendship group Dmitry Savelyev made the remark during the round table on "Russian-Azerbaijani relations: 25 years of friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation", Azertac reported.
“The issue of creation of Russia-Turkey-Azerbaijan inter-parliamentary relations group was discussed during the visit of leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovski to Turkey,” he said adding that the first meeting of the organization is scheduled to be held in Baku.
Savelyev further hailed the mediator role of Azerbaijan in strengthening relations between Russia and Turkey.
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the framework of his St. Petersburg meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia may form a trilateral cooperation mechanism.
He emphasized that both Moscow and Ankara hold a very positive attitude to the proposed scheme.
Azerbaijan and Turkey are the two neighboring countries and
strategic partners, which share common language and relations.
Turkey is a major trade partner of Azerbaijan, and in
January-September 2016 the trade turnover between the countries
amounted to $1.67 billion, according to the State Customs Committee
of Azerbaijan.
In terms of export and import operations, Turkey takes the second
place. Azerbaijan exported goods to $842.2 million, while Turkish
imports amounted of $830.8 million to Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan and Russia are tied by firmly based ties, which were officially established in 1992. The Azerbaijani-Russian cooperation is completely based on the principles of mutual respect and good neighborly relations.
Currently, there are several trilateral formats in the region such as Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey, Azerbaijan-Turkey-Iran and Turkey-Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan.
The already existing trilateral formats offer opportunities for regional cooperation and diplomatic resolution of regional issues. Among these, the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey format is the most functional, as the cooperation is supported by huge trade, energy and transportation projects.
--
Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
Twitter: @amina_nazarli
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz