Iran's Rouhani Lauds Signing of Caspian Sea Legal Regime Convention
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday praised the newly signed Convention on the Caspian Sea Legal Regime, saying the development was a new step for better relations between countries.
“Today, the five Caspian Sea littoral states took very important steps for strengthening regional security and better relations between each other, as well as taking better advantage of the Caspian Sea,” Rouhani said, speaking in Kazakhstan in a joint press conference with heads of Caspian Sea littoral states.
“The first step in reaching this convention, from the first agreement in Tehran Summit to today in Aktau, has been good neighborliness and good relations between the 5 governments.”
“Relations of Iran with Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan have always been friendly and close and this is the main factor for signing such agreements,” he continued.
“Surely, if governments were not close and they were apart, and did not take their national interests into consideration, and relations between the peoples of the region did not have a historical depth, signing of these 7 documents, particularly the Caspian Sea Legal Regime Convention would have been impossible,” added the President, according to Iran’s ministry of foreign affairs official website.
He also said that one of the very important achievements of Caspian Sea Legal Regime Convention was security and stability in the sea, adding, “Being explicitly stated that the Caspian Sea belongs only to the five littoral states and also stipulating that no foreign force and military vessel is able to be present in it and that maritime security is exclusive to the five littoral states, and also stressing the fact that the territories of none of the Caspian Sea region state can be used against another country means that the stability and security of the sea is important.”
“We also indicated in this document that we have observed fairness and justice, although we have not determined the baseline in this convention, we stated that countries that have certain shores should also enjoy certain characteristics, which refers to the shores of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
He also said, “Furthermore, the bases and fundamentals have been stipulated, based on which the share of each country out of the seabed should be determined in the future.”
“Today, the heads of the five Caspian Sea littoral states signed a document but until its finalization, it requires legal processes and in Iran, it must be approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly,” continued the President.
Rouhani added, “Today, because of the new conditions in the Caspian Sea, it can be taken better advantage of to serve the peoples of its coastal states.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran enjoys an important role in transit field and through cooperation with Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan in the east of the sea and Azerbaijan and Russia in the west of the sea, we can link Central Asia and the Caucasus to the southern waters of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea and this means that Caspian Sea can be a transit route for the region and out of the region as well”.
