Oriented on making people closer

The level of five-sided cooperation since the previous meeting of foreign ministers of the Caspian states four years ago has grown markedly, which dictates the need for us to meet more often in this format, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, speaking on Tuesday in Ashgabat at a ministerial meeting ahead of the summit of the heads of states of the Caspian "five", noted that the Russian Federation expects that the launch of the mechanism of the Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (CMFA) on a regular basis will bring the level of interaction to a qualitatively new level.

Lavrov noted that the Russian side is satisfied with the agreements on the final communique that were reached within the framework of the High-Level Working Group, whose experts were able to draw up a "very good and useful document" that will be submitted to the presidents on Wednesday.

Also, Sergey Lavrov, following the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Caspian states, said that the relevance and inviolability of the principles of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea were confirmed - only the states located on the Caspian Sea have sovereign rights in relation to the sea and its resources. The parties reaffirmed the principles of the convention in other areas, and also agreed to continue work on strengthening and expanding the legal framework for cooperation in the region.

The countries confirmed that the presence of armed forces of non-Caspian countries is excluded in the Caspian Sea region, and navigation is carried out only by ships flying the flag of one of the coastal states.

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