MOSCOW, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran will discuss cooperation between the three countries in various fields at a meeting in Azerbaijan's capital Baku on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday.
"Our talks will focus on a flagship project -- the International North-South Transport Corridor," Putin said in an interview with Azerbaijani state news agency AZERTAC ahead of the tripartite meeting.
The transport corridor with a total length of 7,200 km aims to provide the best possible opportunities for transporting transit cargo from India, Iran and the Gulf States to Azerbaijan, Russia and further to northern and western Europe, Putin said.
According to Putin, in 2015, the overall cargo traffic along the transport corridor amounted to 7.3 million tons, up 4.1 percent from 2014.
The president said that joint anti-terrorism would be another key topic for discussion, considering the vicinity of Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran to the "hotbeds of instability" in Afghanistan and in the Middle East.
Reiterating the importance of a joint anti-terror effort, Putin said there could be no double standards in treating terrorists, which could not be divided into "good" and "bad."
"Attempts to use radical groups out of political and geopolitical interests were unacceptable and extremely dangerous," Putin said when suggesting to intensify trilateral interaction to counter terrorism, drug trafficking and so on.
On bilateral cooperation with Iran, Putin mentioned that Russia intended to grant two state loans to Iran for a total of 2.2 billion euros (about 2.4 billion U.S. dollars) to finance its power and infrastructure construction.
Russia would further assist Iran in implementing the plan of action on its nuclear program, including the processing of enriched uranium and the conversion of facilities to produce stable isotopes, Putin added.
Meanwhile, Putin said it is possible for a free trade zone to be established between the Eurasian Economic Union and Iran, as a team has started examining the parameters of relevant agreements.
