IranPress/Iran: Speaking at Mehrabad airport on Sunday morning before leaving for Kazakhstan Summit, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Caspian Sea is of special importance and a unique maritime environment, and it is important for all its' littoral states to sort out how to take advantage of it.
“This convention completely bans the presence of foreign warships in this sea and this is very important for national security of the littoral states”, Iranian President added.
“Caspian Sea littoral states have very good resources, potential, and opportunities, especially regarding economy, transportation, goods transport and tourism, which will be discussed at the summit,” Rouhani added.
President Rouhani also said: “Iran and many Asian countries will be connected to Central Asia, Caucasus, Russia and Europe through the two major corridors to the east and west of the Caspian Sea”.
Rouhani's visit to Kazakhstan is taking place at the official invitation of President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Iranian President also referred to the first summit of the Caspian Sea after collapse of the Soviet Union in Tehran and said: “In that summit, we discussed the environment and made decisions on different aspects of the Sea”.
Describing Kazakhstan Summit as a key summit, he added: “The reason is the basic principles that will be discussed regarding the Caspian Sea legal regime”.
“In this convention, it will also be announced that all legal regimes of the sea are implemented through unanimous decisions made by its 5 littoral states,” continued the President.
Stating that some issues have been determined in the convention and some others have remained for the future, Rouhani added: “In addition to this important and basic document, some other documents will be signed in the visit regarding economy, transportation and combatting terrorism and organised crimes”.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also said: “In this visit, development of bilateral relations with the countries that are attending the summit will be discussed with them”.
Meanwhile, President Hassan Rouhani arrived in the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan on Sunday attend the Fifth Caspian Sea Littoral States Summit.
Upon arrival at the airport, Rouhani was welcomed by senior Kazakh officials and he is scheduled to address the summit in a few hours and announce Iran’s views and stances regarding Caspian Sea Legal Regime.
The fifth summit of the heads of Caspian littoral states is slated for Sunday. The summit will bring together the heads of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Iran and Turkmenistan to discuss and sign the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea.
The previous Caspian ministerial meeting was held on 4-5 Sep. 2017 in Moscow during which the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea was drawn up. It is expected that the Convention will be signed at the Aktau summit on Aug. 12.
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