Iran Press/ Iran news: Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan, the five Caspian littoral states, reached a deal on the legal status of the resources of the Caspian Sea in 2018 at Fifth Caspian Summit held in Kazakhstan.
The President of Turkmenistan, Serdar Berdymukhamedov, arrived in Tehran Tuesday evening at the head of a political-economic delegation.
Berdymukhamedov's first visit to Tehran as President of Turkmenistan met the Leader of the Islamic Revolution on Wednesday. He had previously arrived in Tehran on January 9, 2022, as a special envoy of the then President.
In meeting with his Turkmenistan counterpart, the President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, said that Tehran will try to expand bilateral cooperation with Ashgabat to enhance regional and international collaboration between the two countries."
"I hope such trips will continue in order to expand relations between the two friendly countries, and neighbors," Ebrahim Raisi said during a meeting with Serdar Berdymukhamedov on Wednesday.
Wishing success to Berdymukhamedov in the implementation of Turkmenistan's three-year development plan, the President added: "The legal basis for the development and expansion of relations has been achieved by signing dozens of documents that will implement the provisions of these documents."
Raisi suggested that a committee chaired by the heads of the two countries' joint commissions is formed to follow up on the decisions of the trip and report on the results of their efforts regularly.
The President described the two countries' decision to develop political, economic, trade, and cultural relations and to expand interactions in the fields of energy, tourism, transit, and transportation and said: "The will of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to increase exchanges and cooperation with Turkmenistan in all Levels.
Raisi considered cooperation with the Caspian Sea countries as one of the foreign policy priorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran and welcomed the holding of the Caspian littoral states summit hosted by Turkmenistan.
Afghanistan, the leading regional concern of Tehran-Ashgabat
"The two countries agree that a comprehensive government should be formed in Afghanistan representing all political groups and ethnic groups," he said.
The President of Turkmenistan stated: "We want Afghanistan to become a prosperous government that participates in important international and regional projects."
Raisi also said that the problems and issues of the region must be resolved in the area and that the presence of foreigners in the region not only not creates a security situation but is also problematic.
Energy and transportation are the main issues of Mutual interest
"The energy and transportation sectors are among the most important and strategic sectors of the two countries' relations, and we will try to use the capacity of these sectors effectively to expand bilateral interactions," said Turkmen President Sardar Berdymukhamedov.
Berdymukhamedov also called the expansion of cultural relations a platform for strengthening ties between the two nations and added: "I am sure that the documents signed today between the officials of the two countries will further develop and strengthen relations between the two countries."
What is the Caspian Sea Littoral States agreement?
In the fifth Caspian Summit held in 2018 in the Kazakh city of Aktau, Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Kazakhstan's Nursultan Nazarbayev, Russia's Vladimir Putin and the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the five Caspian littoral states, reached a deal on the legal status of the resource-rich sea.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Caspian littoral states started negotiations over the sea's legal status. However, broad divisions between these countries created a deadlock, preventing sharing the sea's rich hydrocarbon resources.
According to the agreement, an area of 15 nautical miles from the coast will be regarded as each respective country's territory. Fishing zones will be delimited 25 nautical miles from each country's coast.
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