Iran FM stresses need to draw Caspian Sea baselines soon

The Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian addressed the ministerial meeting of Caspian littoral states in Turkmenistan during which he said that Tehran supports the five-way mechanisms, including Russia's recent proposal to complete and form a cooperation structure in the Caspian Sea.

"We support the proposal to hold the second "Caspian Economic Conference" in Russia, and we believe that the special attention of littoral states to the two areas of trade and transportation in the Caspian Sea," the Iranian foreign minister said.

He pointed out that "Four years have passed since the signing of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea although we have taken an important step in this regard, the very important issues of "determining water zones" and 'the demarcation of the seabed and the subsoil resource' of the Caspian Sea remains to be determined.

He further called for accelerating the work on concluding an agreement on drawing the baselines.

"It is obvious that drawing the baselines will lead to the implementation of the Convention," he underlined.

The foreign minister of Iran further said that Tehran supports a collective mechanism to create stability and security in the Caspian Sea.

KI