BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 5. A strong legal and contractual basis for interaction between the Caspian littoral states is being created, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said, Trend reports.
He spoke at the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Caspian littoral states in Moscow.
"Our meeting is taking place under conditions of high turbulence in the region and the world, which requires us to pay due attention to strict observance of such principles of our states' activities in the Caspian Sea reflected in the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea as respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, non-use of force or threat of force, use of the Caspian Sea exclusively for peaceful purposes, as well as implementation of military activities, taking into account mutual security, reasonable sufficiency and interests of all parties," he said.
Bayramov noted that this is the guarantee of prosperity of the Caspian region, and will also serve to preserve the Caspian Sea as a zone of peace, friendship, cooperation and neighborhood.
He added that in this regard, the early entry into force of the relevant convention signed back in 2018 would give an additional impetus to the comprehensive development of cooperation.
"The primary task of the Caspian negotiation process is to finalize, as soon as possible, the agreement on the draft agreement on the methodology for establishing direct baselines in the Caspian Sea within the framework of the high-level working group," he noted.
"We consider it extremely important to make additional efforts, to show the most constructive approach and, if possible, to increase the frequency of meetings in order to bring the positions of the parties closer and find the necessary compromise on the basis of the existing norms of international maritime law and generally recognized international practice," the minister said.
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