Envoy Elaborates on FM’s Plans during Russia Visit
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with his Russian counterpart along with other plans during his stay in Moscow, Iran’s envoy to Russia announced.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif left Tehran for Moscow on Monday to partake in a meeting of foreign ministers of the Caspian Sea littoral countries.
Meanwhile, Iran's Ambasador to Moscow Mahdi Sanaei said in a post on his Facebook page that Foreign Minister Zarif is expected to arrive in Russia’s capital late on Monday.
On the coming Tuesday, Zarif will have a tight schedule, with presence at the meeting of the ministers of the Caspian Sea states from morning to evening, and a bilateral meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov afterwards, Sanaei added.
According to the ambassador, the Iranian minister will also attend a joint press conference at the end of the meeting, have short conversations with his counterparts from the other participating countries, and hold a meeting with the Iranian diplomats in Moscow.
High-ranking diplomats from the nations that border the Caspian Sea (Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan) will attend the forthcoming gathering in Russia.
Since the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Caspian littoral states have failed to agree on the sea’s legal status.
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed water body on earth by area, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea.
The Caspian Sea legal regime is based on two agreements signed between Iran and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1921 and 1940. The three new littoral states, established after the collapse of the Soviet Union, have not recognized the prior treaties, triggering a debate on the future status of the sea.
