In a joint statement at the end of a historic summit in Baku on Monday evening, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Azeri and Russian counterparts, Ilham Aliyev and Vladimir Putin, pledged to promote trilateral cooperation in various areas ranging from the fight against terrorism and arms smuggling to transportation and banking ties.
The three sides pledge to continue all-out cooperation in strengthening ties and promote political dialogue at all levels and on all issues of mutual interest, the statement read.
Rouhani, Aliyev and Putin also emphasized that their respective countries would make efforts to set the ground for developing the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) “based on their common interests”.
The INSTC is a multipurpose route for the transit of goods between Iran, Russia, Europe, India and Central Asia via shipping lines, railroad and land routes.
It was a central theme in the meeting of Rouhani, Putin and Aliyev.
On the sidelines of the trilateral summit, Rouhani held separate meetings with Putin and Aliyev and exchanged views on ways to boost relations in diverse fields.
A number of ministers and high ranking officials accompanied President Rouhani in the two-day official visit.
The Monday summit followed an April meeting among the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan in Baku.
In that gathering, Iran’s Mohammad Javad Zarif, Russia’s Sergey Lavrov and Azerbaijan’s Elmar Mammadyarov discussed a range of issues, including ways to settle conflicts in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.