Foreign

Home page

Foreign

3rd summit of Caspian littoral statesâ€™ leaders begins in Baku â€“ UPDATED

3rd summit of Caspian littoral statesâ€™ leaders begins in Baku â€“ <font color=red> UPDATED </font>

18 November 2010 13:54 (UTC +04:00)

According to APA, President Ilham Aliyev welcomed the presidents of the Caspian littoral states â€“ Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Kurbankuli Berdimuhammedov of Turkmenistan and Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan. Following the welcoming ceremony, the heads of states had photograph taken against the background of the national flags of their countries.

Then the summit has started. In his welcoming speech, President Ilham Aliyev emphasized the importance of reaching consensus in determination of the Caspian legal status. He said Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia have reached an agreement on division of the Caspian Sea. â€œToday we need to strengthen economic cooperation between the five littoral states to make the Caspian as a sea of peaceâ€.

First summit of the Caspian statesâ€™ leaders took place in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on April 23-24, 2002, second in Tehran, Iran on October 16, 2007.

The heads of states will discuss the legal status of the Caspian Sea in Baku summit. Two documents â€“ joint statement and Caspian security agreement - were submitted to the presidents for signing.