Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan to take concrete steps at trilateral summit

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Hailing strong trilateral ties with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, Türkiye's top diplomat said on Tuesday that a planned leaders summit would herald concrete action in various fields between the three nations.

"Our common cultural heritage, language, religion, and history bind us together. We strengthen our relations in the Turkic world not only via the Organization of Turkic States but also via the bilateral, triple, and quadruple mechanisms," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a preparatory meeting ahead of the Türkiye-Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan summit in the Turkmen city of Awaza on Wednesday.

Noting that the energy and transportation ministers of the three countries were also holding separate meetings, Cavusoglu said the ministerial contacts and leaders summit would yield "concrete steps in the fields of trade, energy, transportation, economy, customs, education, science and culture."

He pledged on behalf of Türkiye to "continue our efforts to facilitate the circulation of goods, services and workforce" with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

Thus, he added, they would make "significant contributions to regional prosperity and security."

The leaders of Türkiye, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan are scheduled to meet on Wednesday in the western Turkmen city of Awaza to address steps on further deepening cooperation, particularly in trade, energy, and transportation, according to the office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Cavusoglu also held a bilateral meeting with his Turkmen counterpart Rashid Meredov on the preparatory meeting's sidelines, according to his Twitter post.

"We reviewed the steps to further our cooperation in the fields of transportation, energy and defense industry," he said.