Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey signed a final protocol on establishing closer cooperation within a ministerial meeting held in the Georgian Black Sea port city of Batumi on Thursday.

According to Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov, Maia Panjikidze and Ahmet Davutoglu, who attended the second trilateral ministerial, the action plan of inter-ministerial cooperation for 2013-2015 -- which has been developed by relevant bodies of the three countries and envisages implementing specific projects -- covers such areas as economy, energy, environmental protection, culture, education, sports and youth.

The ministers stressed that the expansion of cooperation under the Trabzon declaration signed in 2012 allows intensifying the relations between the countries and establishing more intense relations at the level of regular citizens.

Mammadyarov regarded the relations between Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan as exemplary at a joint press conference following the meeting. "Today's meeting has also proven this," he said.

Mammadyarov said the situation in the region and ensuring stability in the South Caucasus region were discussed "in the spirit of mutual understanding."

The Azerbaijani minister stressed that the parties discussed the relations in a tripartite format and the approaches of the three countries to international problems.

"In particular, we discussed the Syrian issue, by stressing the convergence of our positions," he noted.

Moreover, Mammadyarov said, cooperation between the three regional countries - Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan - sends a clear message to Armenia.

"Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan have created a platform for cooperation in all areas and are working to ensure the development of the region," he added. "This is the message to our neighbor, Armenia."

Mammadyarov said Armenia must end its occupation of Azerbaijani lands, withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh and begin constructive activity to ensure stability and security in the region.

Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. Russia, France and the U.S. - co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - have long been working to broker a solution of the long-lasting conflict, but their efforts have been largely fruitless so far.

Another trilateral ministerial meeting will be held in Azerbaijan presumably in the second half of 2013.

Speaking before the meeting, the Georgian FM noted that not only gas and oil pipelines, but also politics and culture unite Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.

"We started cooperating in a new format within the Trabzon declaration, which defines intensifying our relations in politics, culture, social development and other spheres," Panjikidze said. "We have much to share with each other in these areas."

She stressed that a plan of cooperation would be set out at the ministerial meeting within the declaration for 2013-2015.

The Batumi ministerial was held on the basis of the declaration dated June 8, 2012, which was adopted in the Turkish city of Trabzon.

The declaration reflects the most important areas of cooperation between Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey in such areas as economy, energy, infrastructure, transport, culture and humanitarian assistance.