Lavrov Hails Effectiveness Of Caspian Summit In Kazakhstan As Record-Breaking

Lavrov Hails Effectiveness of Caspian Summit in Kazakhstan as Record-Breaking

The effectiveness of the meeting of the "Caspian Five" in Kazakh city of Aktau, which resulted in the signing of the convention on the status of the Caspian Sea and a number of intergovernmental agreements, was the best compared to previous inter-Caspian talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th August, 2018) The effectiveness of the meeting of the "Caspian Five" in Kazakh city of Aktau, which resulted in the signing of the convention on the status of the Caspian Sea and a number of intergovernmental agreements, was the best compared to previous inter-Caspian talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday.

On Sunday, the leaders of five states bordering the Caspian Sea Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan signed the convention regulating the status of the worlds largest landlocked body of water. The document regulates access to the surface water and sea bed as well as various issues, including fishing, pipeline construction and environmental concerns.

"The effectiveness of this event is absolutely record for all inter-Caspian talks," Lavrov said in an interview with Kazakhstan president's broadcaster.

The presidents of the five countries, during their statements to the press, also gave their highest praise for the summit, using such words as "historical" and "epochal," Lavrov recalled.

"It is not an exaggeration. The work [on the convention] lasted almost 22 years � it was not easy. Initially, opposing views collided, whether it is a sea or a lake ... As a result, the desire to reach a consensus prevailed," the minister said.

According to the minister, it was crucial that the convention determined the legal status of the Caspian Sea and laid the foundation for the final coordination of issues that had not yet been resolved.

He also stressed that the intergovernmental agreements on trade and economic cooperation and transport, intergovernmental agreement on the prevention of incidents in the Caspian Sea, and three intergovernmental protocols on combating terrorism, organized crime and cooperation between border services were also important results of the summit.

The status of the oil-and-gas-rich Caspian Sea had long been regulated by agreements reached between Iran and the Soviet Union until the dissolution of the latter and following the emergence of five new independent states that would come to surround the body of water.