The first meeting within the scope of the ‘3+3’ regional platform was held in Moscow, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.

The ministry also reports that the meeting was held under the co-chairmanship of Deputy Foreign Ministers of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey Andrey Rudenko, Vahe Gevorgyan, Khalaf Khalafov and Sedat Onal, as well as General Director of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Alireza Hagigian. Georgia’s representatives, who were also invited, refrained from participating in the meeting.

The officials of the Russian MFA stated that the prospects for development of multilateral regional cooperation were discussed during the meeting.

“An agreement was reached to concentrate the work of the platform on the practical issues of interest for all the participants, including confidence-building, cooperation in the trade, economy, transport, culture and humanitarian sectors, as well as the actions aimed at resisting the general challenges and threats,” the press release reads.

The future steps and work-related plans were also discussed.

The representatives of the five countries stated that they would like for Georgia to join the efforts of the platform and that the ‘door’ will remain open for the country.

Georgia had refused to participate in the given format.