Iran Reiterates Cooperation Policy Toward Caspian Region

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, December 23, 2001

Iran Reiterates Cooperation Policy Toward Caspian Region

President Mohammad Khatami said on Saturday that Iran's policies on the Caspian region are based on all-out cooperation, confidence building, establishment of durable peace and just exploitation of the sea's resources.

Khatami made the remarks in a written message to the opening session of an international seminar on the Caspian Sea, read out by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Sadeq Kharazi, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported.

During the two-day seminar, more than 80 Iranian and foreign scholars and researchers from 20 countries will discuss issues related to the legal and political regime of the Caspian Sea as well as other regional and international topics.

In his message, Khatami underlined the need for further promotion of the regional cooperation in all areas.

He noted that the Central Asian countries and the Caucasus are facing major challenges, including interference of foreign powers, terrorism, drug trafficking, organized crimes and growing poverty, on their way to development.

The only way to solve the problems are strengthening dialog and regional cooperation, he stressed.

Iran believes that the legal regime of the Caspian Sea should be completed on the basis of historical background, good neighborliness, observing economic and security interests of the littoral states, and the status of the regional eco-system as well as consensus and flexibility of the littoral governments far from interference of the extraterritorial powers, he said.

The Caspian Sea is estimated to contain the world's third largest reserves of oil and gas after the Persian Gulf and Siberia.

Among the five littoral states, Iran and Turkmenistan have pushed for division of the sea into five equal sectors while Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia contend that the sea floor should be divided into national sectors.

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