The cooperation among Caspian Sea countries has gained a good pace and is reaching new frontiers, the Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov said in his article "The Caspian Sea - a unique region of neighborliness”, published on Tuesday in journal International Affairs.
Focusing on the importance of 6th Caspian Summit held in Turkmen capital Ashgabat in July this year, the top Russian diplomat said the Heads of State reviewed cooperation priorities, including the efforts to tap the Caspian Sea’s transport, energy and resource potential, to ensure environmental safety and cooperation in tourism and culture.
“A number of highly constructive initiatives have been put forward, in particular, proposal of President of Kazakhstan Tokayev to create a Caspian food hub and idea of President of Turkmenistan Berdimuhamedov to set up a Business Cooperation Council,” Lavrov added.
He added that the Caspian region has every chance to become one of Eurasia’s biggest hubs for multi-modal transcontinental transportation, primarily by tapping the potential of the North-South international transport corridor.
Lavrov also highlighted the importance of the Caspian Economic Forum at the heads of government level, noting that its first meeting took place at the initiative of Turkmenistan in 2019.
Saying the second Caspian Economic Forum will be held in October 2022 in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Minister stated that he hopes it will provide a fresh impetus to the trade and economic aspects of Caspian cooperation.
The Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea was signed during the 5th Caspian Summit held on August 12, 2018 in the Kazakh city of Aktau.
