Turkish FM Davutoğlu to pay consecutive visits to Baku, Moscow

ANKARA

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Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will travel to Moscow tomorrow for a preparatory meeting related to the Turkey-Russia High Level Strategic Cooperation Council.

Davutoğlu’s visit to the Russian capital will follow his participation in a trilateral meeting with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to be held in Baku today.

While in Moscow, along with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, Davutoğlu will chair a meeting of the Joint Strategic Planning Group, a sub-body of the High Level Cooperation Council between the Black Sea neighbors which was founded in 2010.

The May 27 meeting aims to make preparations for the next meeting of the High Level Cooperation Council, which will be the fifth of its kind and is expected to be hosted by Turkey in the second half of 2014, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced in a written statement released yesterday.

The crises in Syria and Ukraine, including the situation of the Turkish-speaking Crimean Tatars, will be on agenda, the Foreign Ministry said, noting that a comprehensive exchange of views was expected to take place between Davutoğlu and Lavrov.

The latest meeting of the High Level Cooperation Council was hosted in November 2013 by Russia in St. Petersburg.

First trilateral meeting with Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan

During the meeting in Baku, Davutoğlu will be representing his country at the first-ever foreign ministerial-level trilateral meeting of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

During the meeting, the participants will seek opportunities for bilateral and regional cooperation in various fields, particularly in energy and transportation, in addition to exchanging views on regional and international developments, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a written statement released on May 25.

The ministry likened the mechanism among the three countries to the ongoing foreign ministerial-level trilateral meetings between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Iran which held its first meeting in Iran’s Urmia in April 2011, and the third and latest meeting in the eastern Anatolian province of Van, in April of this year.

While in Baku, Davutoğlu will also hold bilateral meetings with Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov, the ministry noted.