Phenomenon of 8 August

A meeting of presidents of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia a couple of days will take place in Baku on August 8, but experts try to guess about goals and objectives of the meeting, the triumvirate.

The key to the question about the upcoming agenda probably should be found in news reports on April 7, 2016 on the results of the meeting of foreign ministers of the three countries in Baku, which due to the political and geographical position has become the main center of the docking interests of the three Caucasian and Caspian countries.

Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan on the results of the meeting:

1.The Foreign Ministries agreed to further develop and strengthen the inter-state relations based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and non-interference in the internal affairs of each other.

This paragraph implies that all regional tripartite projects will take into account and respect the interests of each of the parties, which should create healthy, pragmatic, and effective relationships.

2. Foreign Ministries reaffirmed their commitment to the principles of the United Nations Charter and the universally accepted norms and principles of international law. In this context, they also stressed the commitment to the simplification of the settlement of regional conflicts.

It is no secret that during the meeting the foreign ministries focused on the Karabakh conflict, and some comments showed that the troika is interested in the soonest settlement of the conflict, a factor deterring regional cooperation, and which as caused a wording "simplification of regulation".

3. Foreign ministries stressed the need to strengthen the fight against new challenges and threats to regional stability and security, and expressed their readiness to cooperate closely to combat terrorism, extremism, transnational organized crime, and drug trafficking.

This topic is relevant in light of the formation of a stability zone in the area of joining the interests of the three countries. The elements of such cooperation are observed in Syria and Iraq, Afghanistan, Central Asia, the North Caucasus, and we should expect their strengthening in the future.

4.The heads of three countries agreed to develop cooperation in economy, energy, transportation, infrastructure, culture, tourism, business, youth exchanges, as well as in consular and customs in a trilateral format, and the promotion of contacts between regions and areas of the three countries.

Here, one can expect an expansion of cooperation in all these areas and the creation of various triple alliances of regional and international importance.

5. Foreign Ministers also stressed the importance of further promotion and support of the "North-South" projects for the development of the transport corridor.

Perhaps this issue could be marked as the first in connection with the entry into the final phase of the construction of the western transport Caspian corridor "North-South". By next year, it will have to close the eastern transport corridor Russia-Kazakhstan-Iran-Turkmenistan and form Caspian transport network with multi-million dollar flows of goods and passengers. At this stage, the project has much more political importance, as it gives direct access to Azerbaijan and Russia to the Persian Gulf, Iran and the access to the Russian and the northern seas; and third countries will have a path to both destinations.

6.The sides confirmed their readiness to continue comprehensive efforts aimed at the conservation of the Caspian Sea as a sea of peace, friendship, security and cooperation. The parties have agreed as soon as possible to complete the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

This point means that the parties are committed to close the question on the "status of the Caspian" as soon as possible, as a factor deterring the development of regional cooperation of all the countries of the Caspian basin. We should expect that the Baku meeting will put forward some solutions to the issue, which will be discussed in autumn in Astana at a summit of five Caspian countries.

As can be seen the Baku trilateral top summit will be filled with diverse issues of not declarative nature, since all shareholders are waiting for a breakthrough - each with their own interests, but coinciding in this historical period. This is a phenomenon and the essence of the meeting on 8 August.