Ashgabat host a regular session of the authorized representatives of the Caspian states that brought together the heads and leading specialists of line ministries and departments of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russian and Turkmenistan.
The agenda of the meetings, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of economy and Development and the State Enterprise on the Caspian Sea under the President of Turkmenistan focused on the draft of the Agreement on cooperation in the trade and economic sphere between the Caspian states. The document was developed by Turkmenistan in accordance with the initiatives put forward by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov at the Summit of the Heads of the Caspian states in Astrakhan, the Russian Federation in 2014.
Those speaking during the meeting noted that the large-scale work was done to implement the agreements, achieved by the leaders of the Caspian states. A number of new legislative acts to be signed by five countries were drafted. It includes the Agreement on cooperation in the trade and economic sphere between the Caspian states that is aimed at enhancing and widening mutually beneficial economic relations.
Even today, the volumes of the mutual trade between the Caspian states are expressed in the significant indicators, but given huge reserves it is safe to say that there are all opportunities for increasing further the economic cooperation and bringing it to a qualitatively new level. In general, it will serve to rising the investment attractiveness of the Caspian region, its full-scale integration into the system of the world economic relations.
The comprehensive consolidation of the friendly relations with the Caspian states is an important aspect of the foreign-policy strategy of Turkmenistan. In this regard, our country pursues the policy based on the principles of openness and good neighbourliness, national and global interests, equal mutually beneficial partnership. That is vividly exemplified by the constructive initiatives of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov with regard to the establishment of the relevant legal base of the five-sided cooperation on the Caspian Sea.
As is known, it was discussed during recent state visit of the President of Turkmenistan to Kazakhstan, including in the framework of the preparations for the V Summit of the Heads of the Caspian states. In the Joint Statement signed on the outcomes of the top-level talks in Astana, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President Nursultan Nazarbayev emphasized the similarity of attitudes towards the solution of the key issues of the Caspian problems as well as confirmed the necessity to sign the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea that will serve as a basic international treaty to regulate the work of the littoral states on the Caspian Sea. Along with this it was underlined the importance of implementing the agreements achieved during the IV Caspian Summit.
During the meeting in Ashgabat, the experts will focus on the further advancement of the Turkmen leader's initiative on the establishment of the permanent Caspian Economic Forum, which is to be an efficient platform for negotiations between the representatives of the government and business circles of the countries in the region, to promote fruitful relations with the world business and authoritative international organisations.
Source: Turkmenistan: the Golden Age Online Newspaper