Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan presidents to attend summit in Baku

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani plans to take part in a summit with his Russian and Azeri counterparts in Baku, Azerbaijan, says Rouhani’s deputy chief of staff for communications and information.

Heading a high-ranking delegation, Rouhani will leave Tehran for Baku on Sunday to hold key talks with the presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia, Ilham Aliyev and Vladimir Putin, said Parviz Esmaeili on Friday.

Esmaeili noted that the three presidents will discuss “trilateral cooperation in the fight against terrorism and such sectors as commerce, energy, communications, environment, and transportation.”

On the sidelines of the summit, the Iranian and Russian presidents will discuss issues of common interest and ways to strengthen cooperation, Esmaeili said.

He further added that Rouhani plans to hold a meeting with Aliyev on Sunday and discuss the implementation of agreements previously signed between Tehran and Baku. The Iranian and Azeri presidents will also exchange views about cooperation in different fields including commerce, industry, energy and culture, six months after the two countries signed 11 agreements and memoranda of understanding in Tehran.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Izvestiya newspaper that the issue of military and technical cooperation is on the agenda of the meeting between Putin and Rouhani. In addition, the two may discuss increasing the level of interaction before holding joint military exercises.

The Iranian president will wrap up his visit to Baku on Monday.

In April, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Russian and Azeri counterparts, Sergei Lavrov and Elmar Mammadyarov, held talks in Baku on strengthening security, political and economic cooperation between the three countries.

The three foreign ministers also discussed the fight against terrorism and extremism in the region, particularly in Syria.

Iran maintains military advisers in Syria, where the government of President Bashar al-Assad is fighting an array of foreign-backed militants, including the Daesh terrorist group.

Russia, another ally of Syria, has been bombing positions of Takfiri militants in Syria at the official request of the Damascus government since September 2015.