Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 16 / Trend S. Aliyev /
Iran shares Russia's negative attitude to the EU Council's decision on the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline that involves the EU's participation in the construction of the facility, the Iranian Embassy in Moscow said, RIA Novosti reported.
On Monday, the EU Council gave a mandate to hold negotiations between EU, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to construct the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline.
Earlier, Russia expressed negative attitude toward this project.
Tehran and Moscow think that the pipeline construction will damage the Caspian Sea environment.
In this case, the parties do not state that they have already built large gas pipeline systems in other reservoirs with much more aggressive environment (such as Blue Stream in the Black Sea).
The EU intends to discuss the agreement during the negotiations between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan by outlining the legal obligations of the parties, the bilateral agreements for Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan to build and exploit the Trans-Caspian pipeline, as well as discuss the legal base. This base will apply to the issue of filling the pipeline with gas from Turkmenistan, as well as the recognition of commercial agreements.
Trans-Caspian gas pipeline is planned to be laid from the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijani coast. It will be connected to the "Southern Gas Corridor." The talks on the construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline between Turkmenistan, the European Union and other countries have been conducted since the late 1990s.