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Heads of Caspian states address Tehran summit

16 October 2007 13:29 (UTC +04:00)

The president said that integration and political relations among the littoral states have developed since the summit, which was held five years ago.
â€œThe nations, who own the Caspian Sea, expect the debates on the legal status to have positive results,â€ the president said.
Iranian president said that most of the principles concerning this issue have already been coordinated, some legal aspects are being debated and the partiesâ€™ serious will and positive approach arouses hope for the future.
â€œThe legal basis of the issues on commercial transportation in the Caspian Sea, shipment by non-littoral country flag-carriers and determination of fishing zone is being worked out. On the other hand, other issues on the Caspianâ€™s status need to be debated,â€ he said.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the littoral statesâ€™ population is 250 million and spoke about broad opportunities for the economic cooperation. The president mentioned that there is North-South corridor in the Caspian Sea. Iranian president underlined that the littoral states need regional cooperation in order to prevent military confrontation, intervention in the Caspian and its becoming a place of various crimes and traffics. He offered to establish a special organization for this purpose.
Iranian president made public the countryâ€™s position on the Caspian.
â€œThe Caspian is a closed sea, only warships and commercial ships of the littoral states can use it,â€ he said.
Iranian president underlined the necessity of extending cultural and tourism relations among the countries.
â€œWe can cooperate taking into account the energy resources in the region and ecological factors in export and transportation. Tehran Convention on the protection of the marine environment of the Caspian Sea shows that all littoral states should regard the protection of the marine environment as one of the main factors. If amendments to the implementation of the convention are approved, important results may be achieved in the protection of the marine environment of the Caspian,â€ he said.
The president also offered holding continuous meetings of heads and foreign ministers of littoral states in order to get productive and quick results.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev started his speech in the summit by expressing his gratitude to Iranian President for his hospitality. Ilham Aliyev mentioned that the first summit was held in Ashgabat in 2002.
â€œThe first summit served as a background for the debates on determining new legal status of the Caspian Sea,â€ he said.
Azerbaijani president said that a lot of experience has been gained during the meetings of foreign ministers and working groups on the Caspianâ€™s status.
â€œWe hope that Tehran summit will contribute to strengthening the relations of the littoral states and provide opportunities for nearing our positions,â€ he said.
Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijanâ€™s position on the Caspianâ€™s status remains unchanged and signing joint declaration at the summit will strengthen cooperation of the littoral states.
â€œTaking into consideration that Caspian has been Sea of friendship and cooperation for centuries I regard necessity of using it for peaceful purposes, defining disarmament and security principles within legal status.
Azerbaijan stressing necessity of protection of biological resources and environment of Caspian Sea supports expansion of cooperation in the solution of ecological problems for the use and increase of natural resources, biological variety of Caspian.
I welcome signing of Frame Convention on protection of Caspian Sea environment and holding First Sides conference in Baku in May of the current year.
Azerbaijan states that it is ready to locate Secretariat of Frame Convention on protection of Caspian Sea environment in Baku. Azerbaijan is faithful neighbor and partner and we demonstrated and proved it many times. Constant development and expansion of friendship and cooperation relations with neighboring countries is one of the directions of our foreign policy line.
I believe that Tehran summit and declaration we will adopt here will be turning point in the development of cooperation of Caspian States in all the fields and in the insurance of stability and peace in the region and Caspian will be turned to Sea of peace, friendship and cooperation,â€ he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin regarded significance of ensuring security in all the fields in Caspian.
â€œRussia proposes establishment of peacekeeping joint group for the insurance of security,â€ he said.
President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev stressed necessity of strengthening 5-sided mechanism for agreement on armament in Caspian.
â€œWe support restriction of military activities in Caspian within borders of littoral states. Present debates of Caspian states are the indicator of efforts for large cooperation. Kazakhstan also tries to expand cooperation with all littoral states. We support propose on having meetings of littoral states consistently. We also positively appreciate discussions of expert groups of littoral states. We expect draft of Tehran Convention on the legal status of the Caspian. This draft will give an impetus on the development of cooperation of littoral states,â€ he said.
President of Turkmenistan Gurbangulu Berdimuhammadov stated necessity of all the agreements to be five-sided. He said that they are against the exploitation of debatable hydrocarbon fields here till the status of the Caspian is defined.
The closed meeting ended and joint press conference has started. /APA/