Russian MFA talks meetings of working group on opening communications in South Caucasus

A total of 12 meetings of the trilateral working group on opening communications in the South Caucasus have already been held, Spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said during a briefing, Azernews reports citing Trend.

"The trilateral working group, chaired by the deputy prime ministers of Azerbaijan, Russia, and Armenia, is engaged in opening economic and transport communications in the region. In our firm belief, this process plays a crucial role in normalizing relations between Baku and Yerevan, contributing to the stabilization and revealing the transit-logistics potential of the entire South Caucasus," she noted.

"The leaders of the three countries made the decision to create this trilateral working group just a few months after the end of hostilities in Garabagh in the fall of 2020. A tremendous amount of work has been done to assess the current state of the regional logistics infrastructure," the spokesperson said.

Besides, according to her, the parties have achieved to come close to reaching a comprehensively beneficial package solution.

“Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to put an end to these issues. As before, we are ready to provide all necessary assistance to the processes of unblocking regional communications, including on the basis of trilateral statements at the highest level,” Zakharova added.

Following the end of the second Garabagh war in 2020, the leaders of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan decided in January 2021 to form a working group at the level of the three countries' deputy prime ministers to focus on establishing transport and economic links in Garabagh.

The latest meeting of the working group was held on June 2 this year. The group led by Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Shahin Mustafayev, Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mger Grigoryan and Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexey Overchuk discussed issues related to border crossing procedures between Azerbaijan and Armenia.