Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, March 13
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
A regular meeting of representatives of the Caspian littoral states to discuss a draft agreement on trade and economic cooperation started in Ashgabat, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message March 13.
The meeting was organized by the Turkmen Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Finance and Economy, and the State Enterprise for Caspian Sea Affairs under the President of Turkmenistan.
Heads, leading specialists and experts of the relevant ministries and departments of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan took part in the meeting.
The meeting noted that a lot of work was done over the past period on practical implementation of the previously reached agreements.
Significant progress was made on a number of new normative and legal documents, which are planned to be signed in a five-sided format. They include the agreement on trade and economic cooperation among the Caspian littoral states, designed to promote the comprehensive strengthening and expansion of mutually beneficial economic ties.
The negotiators stressed that the draft agreement on trade and economic cooperation among the Caspian littoral states, developed by the Turkmen side, is aimed at boosting mutually beneficial trade and economic ties among the Caspian littoral states.
During the meeting, the sides paid particular attention to the initiative to establish a permanent Caspian Economic Forum, designed to become a negotiation platform for representatives of the government and businesses from the Caspian littoral states.
During the two-day meeting, it is planned to discuss the draft agreement, as well as exchange opinions and agree on positions regarding separate articles of the agreement.