Medvedev to meet Aliev, Nazarbayev and Berdymukhamedov on Friday.

MOSCOW, September 10 (Itar-Tass) - President Dmitry Medvedev will
participate in a quadripartite meeting with the presidents of Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan on Friday. This informal summit will be held
during the working visit by the Russian head of state to Kazakhstan.
"It is expected that Ilkham Aliev, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Medvedev and
Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov will discuss regional and international
questions of mutual interest at their conversation in Aktau and subsequent
informal meeting in the city of Kenderli," said the Russian president's
aide Sergei Prikhodko.
"For instance they will examine energy and Caspian issues, questions
of ecology and biological resources, will exchange opinions on events in
September-October: the session of the UN General Assembly, the G20 summit
in Pittsburgh and the meeting of the heads of state of the Commonwealth of
Independent States in Chisinau," he added.
Prikhodko did not preclude a chance that Medvedev may hold a separate
working meeting with the Azerbaijan president. The Russian president will
have a meeting with Nazarbayev on the eve in Orenburg during the Forum of
the Inter-Regional Cooperation, after which he will come to Kazakhstan.
The meeting with Berdymukhamedov will be staged on Sunday during Medvedev'
s working visit to Turkmenistan.
"According to an established tradition, the heads of CIS countries -
apart from participation in official talks and summits - also meet in
various formats in an informal atmosphere," Prikhodko continued. He noted
that the presidents of Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and
Armenia held a meeting in Borovoy in December 2008 at the invitation of
Nazarbayev.
The leaders come to Moscow each summer for events in connection with
horse races for a prize of the Russian president. Besides, this year
witnessed successful summits of the CIS in Moscow on February 22 and of
the CSTO in Chopon-Ata on July 31-August 1.
"Unrestricted agenda, a chance to exchange opinions in a trustworthy
and friendly atmosphere, various format of meeting participants enable the
presidents to receive interesting information as well as to understand
better reasons and arguments of colleagues," Prikhodko emphasised.
The meeting of the presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and
Turkmenistan provoked a negative response from Iran which inferred that
the summit would deal only with Caspian questions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki noted: "This meeting is
not in compliance with earlier agreements that all questions on the
Caspian Sea are to be discussed and decided with the participation of all
the five Caspian states. The Islamic Republic of Iran regards the
organisation of the quadripartite meeting as running counter to its
interests."
At the same time, Russian diplomatic quarters met with surprise this
statement. "Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan are CIS
members and the circumstance that the presidents of the above countries
meet near the Caspian, does not indicate that only Caspian problems will
be discussed," said one of experts. "The more so, since the meeting does
not plan signing any documents on the Caspian," he added. "Therefore, Iran'
s dissatisfaction is groundless in this case," the diplomat contended.
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