ID :
211928
Mon, 10/10/2011 - 09:04
Auther :

Caspian Sea is no place for extra-regional powers, Iranian FM tells

TEHRAN, Oct.10 (MNA) -- Iran`s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said that the Caspian Sea belongs to the five littoral states and no extra-regional power should be allowed to have a presence in the sea.

Salehi made the remarks during a joint press conference with his Kazakh counterpart Yerzhan Kazykhanov in Tehran late on Saturday.

The Iranian foreign minister stated that there should be no foreign interference and no foreign military presence in the Caspian Sea region.

He also commented on the legal regime of the Caspian Sea and said any decision on the sea should be made with the consensus of all littoral states.

The minister also said that Iran attaches great significance to the Caspian Sea environment.

National and shared waters are among the issues that should be agreed upon, he said, adding that based on the necessity of discussing the issues Iran is pursuing a consensus among all littoral states about a convention on the Caspian Sea legal regime.

Salehi went on to say that so far many meetings on the formulation of the convention have been held by the ministers and presidents of the five littoral states.

“An expert meeting on the issue is also scheduled to be held in Astana in the near future and we hope that the convention would yield good results,” he said.



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