The Ashgabat summit will confirm the strategic partnership in the Caspian Sea
Moscow expects that the strategic nature of multilateral cooperation in the region will be confirmed at the Caspian Summit on June 29. This was stated to journalists on Monday by the assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Yuri Ushakov, reports TASS.
"We expect that the negotiations in Ashgabat will lead to the fact that the strategic nature of multilateral cooperation in the Caspian Sea will be confirmed, and most importantly, the commitment to the principles of interaction that were fixed in the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea will be confirmed," the Kremlin representative said.
He noted that Russia attaches paramount importance to this convention, it is the defining, most important international document on the Caspian Sea. "It enshrines the sovereign rights of coastal countries to this reservoir and its resources, the exclusive competence of coastal countries to resolve all issues related to life in the Caspian Sea, and most importantly, the non-presence of extra-regional armed forces in the Caspian Sea is fixed," Ushakov recalled.
Moscow considers it important to bring the convention into force as soon as possible. It has now been ratified by all countries except Iran. "We are working intensively with our Iranian colleagues on this issue. Almost all high-level contacts address this issue," the presidential aide explained.
It is also expected that, following the discussion, a communique of the sixth Caspian summit will be adopted, which will set out the agreed positions of the "five" on the further development of cooperation. Now the draft document is being finalized.
Ushakov drew attention to the fact that thanks to the collective efforts of all the coastal states, the Caspian region as a whole is characterized by stable, conflict-free development, and a very high level of trust and mutual understanding is maintained between the neighbors. "And in general, the atmosphere of friendship and cooperation reigns in the Caspian Sea as a whole," he stated.
In addition, Ushakov said that after the summit, Putin will hold two bilateral meetings – with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Iranian President Raisi.
Putin will also hold separate meetings in Ashgabat with President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and Speaker of the upper house of Parliament Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who is celebrating his 65th birthday on this day.
"Putin will hold a special meeting with the speaker of the upper house of the Parliament of Turkmenistan and personally congratulate him, talk to him on working matters," Ushakov said, noting that Moscow also sent a congratulatory telegram.
Ushakov recalled that Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov played "an important personal role in the formation of cooperation between the Caspian countries in the current form." "And, of course, he has always played a big role in the formation of Russian-Turkmen cooperation," the diplomat added.
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