Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.29
Trend:
The leaders of Caspian Five have reached mutually acceptable agreements that will contribute to further increase of economic cooperation and security in the region, said Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting of Heads of States on Caspian summit in narrow format, RIA Novosti reported.
The Russian leader said that it is planned to make a political statement, which should be "the cornerstone of the future core document - the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea" on the results of the meeting.
"I am convinced that further expansion of cooperation of the five of our states will contribute to strengthening of regional stability and enhancing of efficiency in the fight against terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking and other challenges and threats, as well as give additional impetus to the economic development of our countries, increase their competitiveness on the world markets," Putin said.
Russian President drew attention to the fact that the agenda of the summit is very rich, and applies not only to the issues of legal regime of the Caspian Sea, security and economy. The participants intend to discuss also the development of cooperation in the field of transport, protection of the Caspian Sea ecosystem. There will also be an exchange of views on topical international issues, Putin said.
"The main thing is that we all have a firm intention and interest to reach mutually acceptable agreements that would promote closer cooperation of the "Caspian Five", the Russian leader said.
Putin expressed confidence that the work of "Caspian Five" at the summit in Astrakhan will be useful.
Describing the preparation of the current meeting by the experts, the President of the Russian Federation noted that much work has been done, and its results should be discussed today, "set priorities for near-term and longer-term outlook"
The President stressed the importance of the Caspian region in his opening speech, which is "an oasis of peace and good neighborliness", he said. "The basis of this stability is a careful and balanced approach of Caspian states to everything related with the Caspian Sea - security, economy or environment."
Edited by CN