Baku Statement on the outcomes of First Trilateral Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Republic of Turkey

BAKU STATEMENT

First Trilateral Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the

Republic of Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Republic of Turkey

30 November 2017

At the invitation of H.E. Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and with participation of H.E. Mr. Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and H.E. Mr. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, the First Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the three countries was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 30 November 2017.

Ministers,

Expressed their satisfaction with the existing bilateral cooperation among their countries based on the strategic partnership, mutual respect and trust;

Emphasized significant and strategic role of Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey in their respective regions and bearing in mind the historical ties among the three countries, stressed the existence of common basis and enormous potential for mutually beneficial cooperation, and expressed their strong interest in developing trilateral partnership for advancing stability, security and prosperity in the region;

Reconfirmed their mutual respect and strong support for independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of international borders of states, and stressed that their territories shall not be used for activities against each other;

Deplored continuation of the conflicts in their respective regions, condemned the sufferings of innocent civilians and use of force against territorial integrity, and stressed that these conflicts undermine peace, stability and economic development and demand peaceful resolutions based on the above mentioned principles of international law and the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council;

Underlined the firm determination of their states to explore the ways to develop trilateral cooperation particularly in the areas that would ensure prosperity for the people of the three countries through economic growth and sustainable development;

Decided to intensify all efforts to improve their economic and commercial cooperation so as to meet actual potentials to promote investments and trade; and to further strengthen cooperation in the field of energy, transport, customs, agriculture, telecommunications, industry, environment, education, science, culture, tourism, sports and other areas through joint projects and programs;

Emphasized the importance of trilateral energy dialogue to enhance energy supply security, explore ways of cooperation in renewable energy and energy efficiency and encourage private sector investments and trade among three countries in the field of energy;

Expressing confidence that large-scale transport projects of strategic importance will favour the economic development of the three countries and facilitate competitive transportation between Asia and Europe, highlighted the importance of trilateral cooperation to enhance rail, road and air connectivity;

Underscored the importance of the defence and security spheres, and expressed their readiness to develop active cooperation in these fields;

Reiterated their firm commitment to strengthen their cooperation on the basis of the relevant international instruments in the fight against terrorism, violent extremism and separatism in all their forms and manifestations, transnational organized crime, illicit production and trafficking of drugs, narcotics and their precursors; illicit trade in arms; trafficking in human beings; migrant smuggling and irregular migration; crimes against cultural and historical heritage; money laundering; cybercrime; and other transnational security threats;

Underscored the importance of cooperation in the social and humanitarian spheres, including culture, education, strengthening of health systems and health tourism, youth exchange, tourism, sports, and other relevant areas which will further expand people-to-people contacts between their countries and expressed their readiness to initiate and promote joint projects and events in these spheres;

Underlined their interest and readiness to continue close consultations among the three brotherly countries on regional and global issues of common interest, as well as to enhance cooperation within the international organizations;

Highlighting the ongoing regional processes aimed at developing regional consensus for peace, stability and development, welcomed the progress achieved so far in the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process and reiterated their strong commitment to the Process as a regional political dialogue platform and the development of confidence building measures within its framework, and reaffirmed support for an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan;

Agreed to regularly hold their trilateral meetings on annual basis in alphabetical order;

Agreed to hold their next trilateral meeting in Islamabad on mutually agreed dates in 2018.

H.E. Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov

Minister of Foreign Affairs

of the Republic of Azerbaijan

H.E. Mr. Khawaja Muhammad Asif

Minister of Foreign Affairs

of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

H.E. Mr. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu

Minister of Foreign Affairs

of the Republic of Turkey