Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania started a two-day visit to Azerbaijan on Monday where he will meet his Azerbaijani and Turkish counterparts in Nakhchivan on August 19, according to the Georgian MoD.

Trilateral meeting of the defense ministers aim at discussing joint measures to provide protection to regional energy and transport infrastructure in “critical situations,” Alasania said on Sunday.

“We have been preparing this trilateral meeting for a long time already,” Alasania said. “As you are aware the Georgian side put this initiative last year. This will be first formal meeting of the three defense ministers in Azerbaijan.”

“This meeting and consequent agreement will be about planning of [measures] how these three countries and their armed forces will protect our communication infrastructure in the critical situations – protection of our oil and gas pipelines, as well as railway network in case of military escalation,” the Georgian Defense Minister said.

“I would like to underline that this is only about security and self-defense and not against anyone,” Alasania said. “On the contrary, such agreements create additional foundation for regional stability.”

Before the trilateral meeting, the Georgian Defense Minister will meet his Azerbaijani counterpart Zakir Hasanov on August 18, according to the Georgian MoD.

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey are already holding trilateral annual meetings since 2012 with the most recent one held in Azerbaijan in February, 2014.

Presidents of the three countries held the first trilateral summit in Tbilisi in May, 2014.