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Iran, Azerbaijan Ready to Find Ways of Removing Misunderstandings
Iran and Azerbaijan have expressed readiness to hold regular negotiations to remove their misunderstandings on Caspian issues, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported on Friday.
In a phone conversation with his Azeri counterpart Vilayat Guliyev Thursday night, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi reiterated the need to find a suitable solution accepted by all the coastal states to the issue of the legal status of the Caspian Sea.
Iran has recently protested Azerbaijan's "unauthorized" exploration at the Alborz oil field in what Iran said its sector of the Caspian Sea in cooperation with foreign firms and sent a warship to the area to warn against the exploration ships.
The feud, however, has eased up after Kharazi called for dialog over the issue and Azeri President Geidar Aliyev made conciliatory statements.
Kharazi told Guliyev that Iran is ready to hold regular negotiations with Azerbaijan at all levels in order to remove " misunderstandings" and his deputy Ali Ahani will soon visit Baku to confer with Azeri officials over the issue.
Guliyev expressed satisfaction with the settlement of some misunderstandings in Tehran-Baku ties and stressed that the two countries should solve their problems through dialog.
He asked Iran to send a representative to Baku for consultations with Azeri officials over the Caspian Sea as well as relations of the two countries.
The Azeri president reportedly is due to pay an official visit to Iran in September. The issue of the Caspian Sea will obviously top the agenda of the visit.
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, which would leave Iran with the smallest slice.
The five countries will hold a summit in October to try to reach a solution.
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