Minister Fidan drew attention to the cooperation of the three countries, regional and global problems in his speech and said, "It has been more than 4 years since our last meeting in Tbilisi. During this time, we have witnessed major crises both internationally and in our region. The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the economic order, negatively affected transportation and supply chains. The war in Ukraine continues to take an ever-increasing human and material toll in our region and beyond. The ongoing massacre in Gaza continues to demonstrate the impotence of the international system. On the other hand, there have been good developments in our region. Azerbaijan restored its territorial integrity after 30 years of occupation. Georgia received the status of a candidate country to the European Union. Since our last meeting, a brand new perspective stands before us."

"WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO TURN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS INTO A SPACE OF SHARED PROSPERITY"

Emphasizing that the South Caucasus can become an area of common prosperity for all three countries and that they have an opportunity, Fidan said: "In our meeting today, we discussed this new situation in our region and ways to improve our cooperation. We have a real opportunity to turn the South Caucasus into an area of peace, stability and common prosperity. We agreed to deepen our successful cooperation with Azerbaijan and Georgia in the areas of energy and connectivity. We discussed what we can do to further our work. We emphasized that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line should be restarted at full capacity as soon as possible. We highlighted the strategic importance of the Black Sea for the entire region, particularly in areas such as security, economy, energy and transport. We reiterated our will to work together to strengthen our cooperation in our region and beyond through concrete projects. As 3 countries, we act in a spirit of cooperation in multilateral economic platforms. We saw the closest example of this last year. Azerbaijan and Georgia made great contributions to our work during our Presidency of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. We are ready to provide the support we can in every issue."

"AZERBAIJAN WILL HOST COP29"

Congratulating Azerbaijan for hosting the United Nations Climate Change Conference this year, Fidan continued his speech as follows;

"Achieving lasting peace and stability in the South Caucasus is of paramount importance not only for the region but also for global security and connectivity. We believe that since November 2020, when the second Karabakh war ended, a historic opportunity has emerged to achieve this goal. We expect other countries in the region to adopt a constructive approach with a win-win approach and support regional and global connectivity projects such as the Zangezur Line.

During our consultations with my distinguished counterparts today, we also discussed the ongoing peace and normalization processes in our region. Mr. Bayramov briefed us on the latest developments in the negotiations on the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement.

On the other hand, we underlined the need to respect Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders. We reiterated our full support for the Georgian government's policies towards the peaceful settlement of the Abkhazia and South Ossetia conflicts. I also congratulated Mr. Darchiashvili on being granted EU candidate status last December. We will continue to support Georgia's aspirations for further integration into the Euro-Atlantic political and security structures.

Today, of course, we also discussed the impact of the massacre in Gaza and the unprecedented humanitarian tragedy on regional and international security. We called for an end to this atrocity, which continues to expose Gazans to hunger and epidemics during the holy month of Ramadan. We emphasized the importance of an immediate ceasefire and the immediate and uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. We agreed on a two-state solution to bring lasting peace to the region. Finally, we reaffirmed our determination to further develop our cooperation in the trilateral format and through bilateral relations."