Legal status of Caspian Sea should consider interests of all Caspian littoral countries as much as possible: Russian foreign ministry

Russia is interested in resolving the status of the Caspian Sea as soon as possible, Stats Secretary for Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said at the meeting of Russia's ambassadors to the Caspian littoral countries in Astrakhan.

Karasin said "Russia does everything possible to ensure that the legal status covers the interests of all littoral countries and will insist on this. The main principle is that all five Caspian countries should participate in the solution of the status, as well as that the regional interests and the interests of the Caspian littoral countries should be taken into account."

"I believe it is necessary to develop practical forms of cooperation in economy, investment, culture and relations between people until status of the Caspian Sea is determined," Karasin said noting that they want to create a security system of the Caspian Sea, which would promote stability in the region.

"For this reason, representatives of all five Caspian littoral countries will have a meeting in Baku in late October.

"We are preparing for this meeting and hope that the practical forms of cooperation will be found," Karasin said.

On the division of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia have no claims for each other's sectors. There are both bilateral and trilateral agreements between these countries on the issue. The parties have also agreed to determine the coordinates of the median line. The issue is yet to be agreed with Turkmenistan and Iran. It is due to this that the status of the Caspian Sea has not yet been defined, despite many years of discussions.

On Sept.23-24, Astrakhan hosts the meeting of Russia's ambassadors to the Caspian countries to discuss joint execution of Russian President Dmitry Medvedyev's orders to accelerate the process of determining the status of the sea.

/Trend News/