Iran’s President Urges Enhanced Cooperation with Kazakhstan on Caspian Sea

In a Wednesday meeting with his Kazakh counterpart in China’s Shanghai, President Hassan Rouhani underlined that Iran and Kazakhstan should forge stronger mutual cooperation in diverse fields that relate to the Caspian Sea.

The bilateral meeting took place on the sidelines of the fourth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), now underway in China’s Shanghai.

Pointing to the strategic position of Iran and Kazakhstan as two Caspian Sea littoral countries, President Rouhani said the two nations have “abundant opportunities for the expansion of economic and trade ties,” and stated that they should tap into those capacities to cement their relationship.

He also highlighted the advantages of neighboring a strategic water body such as the Caspian Sea, adding that “trade, shipping, conservation of the environment and promotion of tourism through the Caspian Sea" are of great significance.

For his part, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev described as “identical” the stances of Tehran and Astana towards the Caspian Sea.

“Divisions on the issue (the Caspian Sea) could be resolved by employing the commonalities and within the framework of an expert and legal view by the heads of the Caspian Sea littoral states,” the Kazakh president explained.

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.