Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan set for trilateral summit

By Ruslan Rehimov

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AA) – Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at their first trilateral summit in Baku on Monday.

The occupied Karabakh region will be discussed in detail. Armenian militia have occupied Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region since 1993, similar to how pro-Russian militia have illegally occupied parts of Ukraine since 2014.

The three leaders are expected to discuss economic cooperation, energy and transportation projects, security issues and the fight against terrorism.

Construction of the Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway to connect Russia to Azerbaijan and Iran will be the main subject of the summit. The railway is expected to initially carry six million tons of cargo a year, later rising to 15-20 million tons per year,

The leaders will discuss a north-south energy corridor aimed at synchronizing the electric grid between the three countries.

*Emin Avundukluoglu contributed to this story from Ankara