The third meeting of the 3+3 regional consultation platform has started Friday in Istanbul, Turkey.

This platform is a regional cooperation format launched by Turkey and supported by Russia after the 44-day Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020. It implies the participation of three South Caucasus countries—i.e. Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan—and the three powers of the region—i.e. Russia, Turkey, and Iran.

The foreign ministers of Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Iran—i.e. Ararat Mirzoyan, Sergey Lavrov, Jeyhun Bayramov, Hakan Fidan, and Abbas Araghchi—are participating in today’s meeting.

Mirzoyan will have bilateral meetings as well in Istanbul.

The foreign minister of Georgia, however, is not attending this meeting. "Georgia announced long ago that it does not work with this format," the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had announced recently.

Georgia has not participated in any of the 3+3 meetings so far due to its disagreements with Russia. But Moscow, for its part, has announced that the "door" of 3+3 remains open for Tbilisi.

Hewitt Daily News wrote Thursday that the meeting in Istanbul will be held under the chairmanship of Turkish FM Hakan Fidan. Discussions will focus on specific cooperation programs to improve regional cooperation and to make broader efforts for regional stability. An exchange of views on key regional and international events is expected.

According to Daily Sabah, Fidan is going to emphasize Turkey's support for the peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as the normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia.

And following this 3+3 format meeting, a joint declaration will be adopted. Although its initial text has not been publicized, according to the Turkish press, this declaration will apparently stress the commitment of the participating countries to resolve the existing problems through dialogue.