Caspian Issues Should Be Decided by All Littoral States: Iranian FM

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 24, 2001

Caspian Issues Should Be Decided by All Littoral States: Iranian FM

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said on Sunday that all the littoral states should take part in decision-making process on issues related to the Caspian Sea.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said on Sunday that all the littoral states should take part in decision-making process on issues related to the Caspian Sea.

During a meeting with Viktor Kalyuzhny, Russian deputy foreign minister and special envoy on Caspian Sea affairs, Kharazi referred to the Caspian Sea as an area for regional solidarity.

He said that Iran regards joint exploitation of the Caspian Sea resources as the best provision to be included in the legal regime of the energy-rich waters.

"We should consider the interests of all littoral states to serve the long-term goals of the Caspian region," Kharazi was quoted by the IRNA news agency as saying.

For his part, Kalyuzhny explained Russia's views on the Caspian Sea, saying that Iran would play a key role in drawing up the legal regime of the sea.

The Russian envoy announced that the working group of the littoral states would continue negotiations in this respect.

Kalyuzhny was in Tehran to take part in a two-day seminar on " Caspian Sea: Prospects, Challenges," which was inaugurated on Saturday.

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 dividing 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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