Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during the meeting of Foreign Ministers of Caspian Littoral States, Moscow, December 5, 2023

Colleagues,

Friends,

All participants in the meeting of Foreign Ministers of Caspian Littoral States, welcome to Moscow.

Since the Caspian region was established in its present form, nine meetings between foreign ministers have already been held. We are united in our belief that this format is becoming increasingly popular and will continue to do so. This can be explained by the fact that the work in this format makes it possible to find key solutions to regional cooperation problems.

It is significant that the Caspian theme is a priority for all of us; it is regularly discussed by the presidents and heads of state of the five Caspian nations. Cooperation in this format was given a considerable boost during the 6th Caspian Summit, held in Ashgabat in June 2022 and the 2nd Caspian Economic Forum, in Moscow, in October 2022. We hope to further strengthen this track following the 3rd Caspian Economic Forum, which is scheduled to take place in Tehran.

Today’s meeting is special. We are launching a new regular ministerial dialogue that will work as part of the mandate agreed upon at the Ashgabat summit. It involves discussing the development of pentalateral cooperation, improvement of its formats, development of agreed measures to implement the decisions of the summits, and preparation of their agenda and final documents. We discussed these issues at the meeting in a narrow format. This is a useful format that allows for confidential communication. I think it will become customary.

I would like to note the enormous development potential of our region in the trade, economic, environmental, scientific, cultural, transport and transit spheres. It is of strategic importance considering the creation of the International North-South Transport Corridor.

Deepening practical cooperation between the Caspian states is also relevant in a broader sense: in the context of forming a multipolar world order and strengthening the positions of new centres of world development. The joint work of the Caspian countries makes a significant contribution to ensuring security, stability and sustainable development in the Eurasian continent.

We believe such promising areas as strengthening cultural ties, contacts between people, creating new tourist routes, expanding interaction along coastal regions, as well as infrastructure projects are very important.

I would like to separately outline serious common challenges the Caspian states are facing, such as environmental safety, shallowing of the Caspian Sea, and preservation of its biological resources. To solve these issues, we need to harmonise our actions.

According to the 2018 Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, only our five countries have exclusive competence in solving problems related to the Caspian Sea. We consider this the cornerstone of the emerging Caspian community, a guarantee of participation in the development of the region, and responsibility for the processes taking place in it.

We can confidently say that cooperation in the Caspian Sea has reached a high level; however, additional efforts are required to improve the quality of five-party interaction and strengthen its international legal foundations. Today’s meeting is dedicated to these tasks.

We have outlined a large spectrum of topics that are important in the context of implementing the decisions of the Caspian summits. We will focus on practical issues and the draft documents under consideration. We believe that the effectiveness of this work could be improved by creating a Caspian Council, a form of cooperation and dialogue without any bureaucratic schemes (like secretariats). We look forward to an interesting discussion on this initiative.

As per tradition, we will touch upon certain issues on the international agenda that relate to the Caspian region. I believe that today’s meeting will contribute to promoting the position of our region as a zone of peace, harmony, neighbourliness, and fruitful interstate cooperation.