Maria Zakharova: Door for Georgia’s participation in 3+3 format always open

All participants of the 3+3 regional consultative platform on the South Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia - Russia, Turkey, Iran) have expressed their interest in Georgia’s participation, the door for Tbilisi to join the format always remains open, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a briefing, Report informs referring to TASS.

“As for the issue and controversy regarding Georgia’s participation, at the first meeting of the platform on December 10, as you know, all countries, including Russia, unanimously expressed their interest in Tbilisi’s participation in this format, and agreed that the door for Georgia always remains open,” noted Zakharova.

Commenting on the statement of the Turkish Foreign Ministry on the possibility of holding the next meeting of the format in Ankara, the diplomat reminded that not only this country expressed its readiness to provide a platform for the next consultations.

“This, in my opinion, suggests that the interest of all participants in this format in continuing joint work and establishing practical interaction is very high. But the coordination of the venue and the content of the next meeting is taking place through the foreign ministries on the basis of consensus of all participants. We proceed from the fact that, first of all, it is important to focus on issues that would be of common interest, including the development of trade, economic, transport, cultural and humanitarian ties, the fight against common challenges and threats,” Zakharova emphasized.

Earlier, the leaders of Azerbaijan and Turkey, Ilham Aliyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, came up with the initiative of the six-sided format of cooperation on Karabakh and the issue of unblocking economic and transport ties in the South Caucasus. Russia and Iran welcomed this idea, Georgia announced that it doesn’t plan to participate in this regional initiative, but offers its own format of negotiations to Baku and Yerevan to maintain peace in the trilateral format. On December 10, Moscow hosted the first meeting of the 3+3 regional consultative platform at the level of deputy foreign ministers.