Iran expects Sochi meeting to yield positive results

By Sahin Demir and Murat Karadag

ISTANBUL

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Kashkavi has said on Wednesday that his country expects the trilateral meeting between Iran, Russia and Turkey in Russia’s city of Sochi to be productive.

“We expect that this session will bring a positive result,” Kashkavi told Anadolu Agency on the sidelines of the Asia Parliamentary Assembly (APA) in Istanbul.

During the trilateral meeting, Erdogan, Rouhani and Russia's Vladimir Putin are to discuss progress made in the Astana peace talks as well as changes in de-escalation zones across Syria.

The zones were established to reinforce a cease-fire introduced by the three guarantor states in December last year.

Kashkavi emphasized that the Sochi summit constituted a significant and high-level meeting as a follow-up to the Astana peace talks, adding: “The leaders made all the preparations for the process to continue positively.”

Kashkavi also noted the recent hike in high-level meetings between Turkey and Iran.

“Regional developments drive our countries to be in a close relation,” Kashkavi said, adding that he hoped to soon reach a target trade volume of $30 billion between both countries.