Iranian Government News
December 21, 2017 Thursday


Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan underline joint interests



Tehran: The official news agency of Iran (IRNA) has issued following news:

Foreign ministers of Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkey issued the final
statement of the 5th Trilateral Meeting in Baku on Wednesday,
stressing upholding of their common interests. At the invitation of
Elmar Mammadyarov, minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of
Azerbaijan and with participation of Mohammad Javad Zarif, minister of
foreign affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Mevlut Cavusoglu,
minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Turkey, the Fifth
Trilateral Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs convened in
Baku.



The full text of the statement follows:

The Ministers,

Emphasized their commitment to the Urumieh, Nakhchivan, Van and Ramsar
Statements adopted in the previous Trilateral Meetings of the
Ministers of Foreign Affairs;

Reaffirmed commitment to further enhance solidarity and cooperation
among the peoples of the three countries based on deep-rooted
historical, religious and cultural commonalities and shared values
that will serve to strengthen peace, stability, prosperity and
cooperation in the region;

Underlined their commitment to the further expand cooperation
particularly in the areas that would contribute to economic progress
and sustainable development;

Emphasized their common interest to strengthen peace and stability in
the region and stressed in the context their commitment to principles
of international law, including in particular, respect for
sovereignty, territorial integrity, and inviolability of
internationally recognized borders and peaceful settlement of all
disputes;

Reiterated, in this regard, the importance of the earliest resolution
of Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the basis of the
above-mentioned principles;

Agreed to continue close consultations on regional and global issues
of common interest at different levels and platforms and within the
framework of international and regional organizations, such as United
Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Conference on
Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, and the Economic
Cooperation Organization, with a view to enhancing regional and
international peace, security and stability;

Welcomed the declaration and final communiqué adopted at the OIC
Extraordinary Summit on 13 December 2017 in Istanbul, with regard to
Al-Quds Al- Sharif;

Agreed to strengthen economic-trade cooperation, to use the existing
potential for promotion of investments and trade, as well as to
support promotion of cooperation by implementing of the joint projects
and programs in the field of energy, transport, banking,
telecommunication, industry, agriculture, tourism and environment;

Underlining the significant steps taken to increase the transit
potential of the three countries situated on the international transit
corridors and geographically favorably located as well as to integrate
to the international transit system, stressed upon the importance of
further enhancement of cooperation for implementation of the new
projects for development of transport infrastructure and increase of
transit potential;

Underlining the significance of participation of the three countries
in large-scale international transport projects, which are
strategically important for increase of the quantity and quality of
the competitive transit transportation between the Asia and Europe,
for socio-economic development, welcomed the launching of
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway which creates favorable conditions to use
the transit potential of the three countries on 'Eat-West',
'South-West', 'North-South' routes, stressed the importance to take
necessary steps for earliest completion of Rasht-Astara railway;

Underlined the importance of strengthening cooperation in the field of
civil aviation to reach the high potential as well as to further
benefit from the geographical advantages of the three countries;
Expressed their willingness to enhance commercial collaborations in
the petroleum, gas and petrochemical fields;

Agreed to develop and enhance relations among the banking networks of
the three countries and to share experience and information on
international banking procedures as well as on combating
money-laundering and financing terrorism;

Stressed the importance of continued cooperation among three countries
to build and run information infrastructures in order to bridge the
digital divide in the region;

Underlined the importance to cooperate within the framework of global
and regional economic organizations, to attract the attention of these
organizations to the priority spheres, such as trade, transport,
tourism, agriculture, communication, and energy as well as to promote
and support implementation of the projects in the common interest of
the three countries by these institutions;

Emphasized the importance of strengthening cooperation to mitigate and
prevent environmental degradation, with a view to attaining the
relevant goals of 2030 sustainable development agenda adopted by the
United Nations in September 2015;

Agreed to positively evaluate the candidatures of three countries in
the international or regional organizations and in this vein, welcomed
the candidature of Baku for hosting Word EXPO-2025 in the Republic of
Azerbaijan;

Condemning all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on
ethnicity, race, religion and belief and underlining the importance of
nurturing tolerance, respect, dialogue and cooperation among different
cultures, civilizations and peoples and emphasized the significance of
the 7th Global Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations of the United
Nations held in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 20-25 April 2016;

Underlined the importance to further strengthen cooperation in the
fight against terrorism, separatism and violent extremism in all their
forms and manifestations, transnational organized crimes and elicit
trafficking in narcotic drugs and their precursors, and arms, human
trafficking, crimes against cultural and historical heritage, cyber
crimes, and illegal migration; took note of the UN GA Resolution
A/RES/68/127 entitled 'A Word Against Violence and Violent Extremism
(WAVE)' initiated by the Islamic Republic of Iran; Stressed their
determination not to allow their territories to be used by any people
or group of individuals, under any threat and activity against each
other strongly condemned foreign support to separatism.

Emphasized their commitment to promote and protect human rights at the
national and international level, and declared that the promotion and
protection of the rights of all human begins in the world can better
be achieved through cooperation and dialogue.

Underscored the significance of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
(JCPOA) which reflects the success of the multilateral negotiations
and diplomacy; acknowledged that the successful implementation of
JCPOA requires the complete fulfillment of the stipulated obligations
by all the parties for allowing them to fully enjoy benefits provided
in JCPOA; taking into account the Islamic Republic of Iran’s adherence
to its obligations under JCPOA as confirmed by the International
Atomic Energy Agency which is a part of the Resolution 2231 (2015) of
the UN Security Council recalled the commitment of all the UN members
to contribute the implementation of JCPOA.

Underlined the significant importance of promoting Islamic solidarity
to confront challenges facing the Islamic World and stressed intension
for more active and effective cooperation to strengthen Islamic
fraternity, understanding and tolerance. In this respect noted the
significance of the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games for promotion of
Islamic culture and moral values around the world held in high level
in Baku on 12-22 May 2017.

Stressed on importance to follow up of the decisions taken during the
previous meetings as well as the Trilateral Sectoral Cooperation
Action Plan for 2016-2018.

Reiterated the importance of holding regular meetings in the
trilateral format to continue coordination and cooperation on regional
and global issues agreed to hold the next meeting in Turkey.