“The year 2016 has been fruitful and efficient in terms of development of Azerbaijan’s bilateral relations. In the development of bilateral relationship, the expansion of our mutually beneficial and comprehensive cooperation with the neighboring countries - Turkey, Russia, Islamic Republic of Iran and Georgia should be particularly noted,” said Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov in his interview with AZERTAC.

“The active participation of Azerbaijan in international events and mutual bilateral visits show the importance of our country in the region and also in the world, as well as present new opportunities for us,” the Minister said.

“Our bilateral relationship is further enhanced through regional cooperation mechanism in trilateral format. In 2016, the meetings of presidents of Azerbaijan-Russia-Iran, foreign ministers of Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey, Azerbaijan-Iran-Turkey, Azerbaijan-Russia-Iran were held in trilateral format. Holding these trilateral meetings has utmost importance for strengthening security in the region, expanding and deepening bilateral relationship. The trilateral meeting of the heads of state of Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran held in Baku with the initiative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan H.E. Mr. Ilham Aliyev and the joint statement adopted at the end of the meeting have provided important grounds for the development of cooperation in political, economic, trade, transport and other fields. The cooperation in this format also has strategic importance promoting trans-regional cooperation along the line stretching from South and South-East Asia to Northern Europe,” FM Mammadyarov added.