TODAY.AZ / Politics

What presidential 'troika' promises for region?

28 July 2016 [16:00] - TODAY.AZ

/By Azernews/

By Gunay Camal

While world headlines focus on the push for a “new regional cooperation format”, the date of Azerbaijani, Russian and Iranian presidential summit is approaching with critical topics to be discussed and decisions to be made.

Looking at the current geopolitical situation under which the presidential “troika” will meet, Ilham Aliyev, Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani will not lack topics for discussions. Nevertheless, Iranian officials earlier announced that Baku and Tehran will ink deals on railway financing, while media reported that new arm deals maybe signed between Moscow and Baku.

The agenda of the August 8 trilateral summit is expected to include gas projects, the North-South Transport Corridor, Nagorno-Karabakh and regional issues, including discussions on the Caspian Sea status. 

"The main thing on the agenda is transit transportation, and second, trade between our countries and countries of the region, and also tourism. [The presidents] will touch upon critical problems of our region, including security problems, Middle East problems, and countermeasures against terrorism," said earlier Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Pacific Affairs Ibrahim Rahimpour.

Commenting on Putin’s visit to Baku, Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Vladimir Dorokhin told local media that “Putin will not be going empty-handed” to Baku.

“Many questions have accumulated that need to be discussed by the presidents of our countries. Putin will not be coming empty-handed. In Azerbaijan, they are also preparing for this meeting. They will analyze what has been done and what remains to be done. New orders will be given. Therefore, the Russian President is coming on a working visit, not just for show. This visit will contribute to improving Russian-Azerbaijani relations.”

Tehran, which earlier faced a number of economic and political sanctions due to its nuke program, has repeatedly announced that in the post-sanction era it will not forget the countries, which backed it under the sanctions' pressure.

Moscow and Tehran preserved their close ties despite certain ups and downs in recent years. Tehran and Moscow share joint viewpoints towards various regional issues, including Syrian crisis. Baku also backed Tehran during its hard times, being against any other solution to the nuke problem despite political dialogue.

Linking Asia to Europe, Azerbaijan stands at a strategic point between East and West, and is important country for both Tehran and Moscow.

Being both a former Soviet state and a part of the Muslim world, Azerbaijan lacks any problems with understanding either Russia or Iran. The country also shares borders with both, along with keeping good trade ties. Thus Baku can play a unique role in forming a Baku-Tehran-Moscow bloc.

Economic issues

Tehran seeks ways to supply its natural gas to new markets, while assuring Moscow that it will not be competing with Russia, and Azerbaijan seeks to be a gas hub for transporting Caspian gas to Europe.  The West is interested in blocking Russian gas supplies to whichever market, and does not seem to be happy with rapprochement of Azerbaijan and Iran with Russia, while both Baku and Tehran seek to open an energy “window” for themselves.

The upcoming trilateral summit will be a good platform to give a large impetus to the development of cooperation between the three countries in the energy sector, believes Azerbaijani Energy Minister Natig Aliyev.

Aliyev, talking to the official press, has claimed that holding of the meeting, in a post-sanctions period of Iran, and in Azerbaijan, which established an image of a reliable partner and a major participant in global energy and communication projects, will give impetus to the formation of new regional partnerships.

“The meeting of the presidents of the three countries in Baku will take place on the backdrop of rapid developments in world politics and their impact on the geopolitical map of the region. In the difficult period of the formation of a new world order, Azerbaijan will again be at the center of world's attention by hosting such an important meeting in a trilateral format," the minister added.

Aliyev believes the new relationships that were established among the three regional neighbors after lifting of sanctions with Iran, primarily contributes to emergence of good prospects for cooperation in the energy sector.

“The August meeting can be a platform that will give impetus to the development of energy cooperation through the coordination of the interests of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia, which pursue independent energy policy. Among the crucial projects realized by the three countries are a project on interconnection of electric power systems of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia and creation of corridors for the transport of gas from Russia and other Caspian countries,” he said, emphasizing that the Baku meeting will accelerate the realization of these projects.

The minister added that Azerbaijan, from a technical point of view, is ready to merge with energy systems of Russia and Iran in the framework of the North-South Energy Corridor Project.

Combining power systems of the three countries will create an opportunity for the expansion of export-import operations. Azerbaijan will strengthen its position as an exporter and transporter of electricity and get huge dividends for transmission of electricity.

Azerbaijan also presents the most economically justified and shortest route for trade that can connect Iran's southern ports to Russia and through there to Europe.

The North-South corridor is a large-scale transportation project, promoted by Moscow, Baku and Tehran. The corridor, between St. Petersburg and Mumbai (India), is over 7,000 kilometres long. This corridor, designed to transport goods from India, Iran and other countries to Russia via the Caspian Sea and further on to Western and Northern Europe, will compete with the Suez Canal. Namely the North-South project will soon become a transport axis of the whole region, the main hub of which is Azerbaijan.

Caspian Sea

The agenda is also expected to include discussion on the Convention on the Caspian Sea document, which would define ownership of the Caspian among its littoral states. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier said progress had been made toward reaching agreement on the convention, expressing hope the document could be signed in 2017.

But there are still differences about wording of the document that would impact oil-drilling rights of Caspian states, as well as fate of future pipelines, and in Baku the three presidents may discuss the challenging issues.

Nagorno-Karabakh

The long-lasting Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be another topic of the August meeting, as for Baku this is the main challenge for the regional cooperation and development.

Both Tehran and Moscow does not want a hot point so close to their borders. Russia, a big global player and a member-state of the OSCE Minsk Group established to mediate between the parties to the conflict, made huge efforts to calm down the tense situation emerged after the April escalation. Meanwhile, Tehran has repeatedly voiced its readiness to mediate between Yerevan and Baku to achieve a peaceful resolution.

Baku may take an advantage of the August talks to once again show the threat that the occupation of its territories by Armenia poses to its regional neighbors and jointly realized projects, and achieve exert of some pressure on Yerevan to take constructive position in peace talks. 

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/152985.html

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