Russian, Iranian, and Azerbaijani leaders meet for first time in history

During the summit, both trilateral and bilateral talks will be held. One of the major economic projects to be discussed at the meeting is the creation of the “North-South” transport corridor. According to the President of Russia who gave an interview to Azerbaijani press on the eve of the summit, this project will create the best opportunity “to move transit goods from India, Iran, and the Gulf States to Russia and later to Northern and Western Europe.” The parties will discuss joint projects in the energy sector as well as the question of dividing the oil and gas fields of the Caspian Sea. Russia and Azerbaijan on the one hand and Iran on the other insist on different principles for division. The sides will also discuss issues of cooperation in trade and tourism.

The essence of this meeting is the further construction of the Moscow-Baku-Tehran trifecta in the sphere of Eurasian economic integration which supplements the EAEC project and will in the future entail the formal induction of Iran and Azerbaijan into Eurasian structures. It is also possible that the Eurasian integration of Turkey will be discussed.