Azerbaijan, Baku/ Trend , corr. A. Ismayilova/ Khalaf Khalafov, the Deputy Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister, has stated today in Baku that the new leadership of Turkmenistan shows interest and wishes to settle the issue connected with the legal status of the Caspian Sea.
Commenting the results of the last meeting of the working group on the legal status of the Caspian held in Ashgabad on April, 23-24, Mr. Khalafov noted that Azerbaijan hoped that it could develop bilateral relations with Turkmenistan not only in the issue connected with the status of the Caspian Sea, but also in other spheres of cooperation. He said that the Azerbaijani and Turkmenistan Foreign Ministers were expected to hold a meeting with each other.
Touching upon the Iranian position to the issue of the legal status of the Caspian, the deputy of the Foreign Minister of the Country said that the meeting in Turkmenistan had been held in five-lateral format. A bilateral meeting between the Azerbaijani and Turkmen party is expected to be held in Baku soon.
Mr. Khalafov also noted that the agreement on holding the next five-lateral meeting in Teheran within the next 3-4 months had been reached during the last Ashgabat meeting. Iran put forward a proposal to hold a meeting of the Foreign Ministries of all the five Caspian countries ( Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Russia, and Kazakhstan) in its capital- Teheran. Moreover, within the forthcoming meeting to be held in Teheran, the parties are expected to view holding of the summit of the Heads of the Caspian Sea States.