A trilateral meeting between Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia was held in Tbilisi on April 17, with the participation of Georgian deputy foreign minister Lasha Darsalia and his counterparts, Azerbaijan’s Elnur Mammadov and Armenia’s Vahan Kostanyan, along with their delegations. The Foreign Minister of Georgia Maka Botchorishvili also took part in the talks.
In her opening remarks, Botchorishvili emphasized the strategic role of the South Caucasus, the potential of the region, and various formats of cooperation. “It is nothing but Georgia’s genuine desire to advance regional cooperation and to identify common interests that unite us and bring us to this table today,” Botchorishvili said. “The South Caucasus is a region of strategic importance, with immense potential, which we can jointly benefit. Sharing our visions of the region and exploring possibilities for trilateral cooperation is both very timely and very much needed,” she added.
The main objective of the meeting is to share views and identify common interests among the three countries in areas that will contribute to enhancing mutually beneficial, practical trilateral cooperation in support of regional prosperity, stability, and sustainable development.
The meeting served as an open exchange of views and presentation of visions on potential areas for collaboration. At the end, the participants acknowledged the positive and constructive atmosphere of the meeting, which is regarded as an initial phase designed to build trust and pave the way for the eventual advancement of the dialogue to a higher level.
The trilateral meeting represents an additional effort by the three neighbouring countries to establish constructive and mutually beneficial engagement and does not contradict or replace any existing formats of cooperation
The meeting was preceded by consultations between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Maka Botchorishvili, and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Jeyhun Bayramov, and the Republic of Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan. It was during these consultations that the initiative for a trilateral meeting between the foreign ministries of the three countries was launched.
