Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at the 4th meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission for Caspian Cooperation, Moscow, May 22, 2025

Colleagues,

We are beginning the fourth meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission for Caspian Cooperation.

I would like to begin with extending my best wishes to everyone on the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory. Let me also note that many Russian regions held events to mark this momentous landmark, including the Astrakhan Region. On April 25 this year, the Astrakhan Patriotic Forum was held, which also featured a conference on the Role and Importance of the Caspian Transport Corridor in the Army and Home Front Supply System during the Great Patriotic War. Representatives of all Caspian states took part in the event, which was indeed a worthy contribution to the Great Victory celebrations.

Colleagues,

Strengthening cooperation in the Caspian Sea area is our priority, which is clearly stipulated in the Russian Foreign Policy Concept approved by President Vladimir Putin in March 2023. We consistently promote the view that the five littoral states have exclusive competence in addressing any Caspian Sea issues, even though there is an increasing number of players wishing to interfere in those processes. It is essential that we ensure strict abidance by the relevant agreements reached as part of the work on the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea.

It is obvious that greater interaction between the five parties to this convention will help develop a framework for broader economic cooperation in Eurasia, something President Vladimir Putin referred to as the Greater Eurasian Partnership, as well as build equal and indivisible security on the continent we share. Given its geopolitical and geostrategic importance, the Caspian region should be an integral part of this security system.

The five Caspian states have held several important events since our last meeting.

On February 17-18, Tehran hosted the 3rd Caspian Economic Forum (CEF). Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk led the Russian delegation attending the meeting.

The conference featured more than a dozen thematic roundtables where participants spoke in favour of strengthening joint research, including the study of the causes of Caspian shoaling. They noted the high level of cooperation between the littoral states in oil and gas as well as in power generation, including green energy projects. They also supported further expanding cooperation in transport, and building transport and logistics infrastructure. We agreed to hold ministerial meetings on transport and on economic issues before the end of the year.

We believe that the Commission should continue to focus on the areas identified as the five states’ priorities. Its mission is to facilitate the implementation of the decisions adopted at the 3rd Caspian Economic Forum.

On May 5-7, the 10th meeting of the High-Level Working Group on Caspian Sea Issues took place in Moscow. Among other Caspian-related issues they reviewed, representatives of Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan discussed methods for drawing straight baselines in the Caspian Sea. This is an important issue that needs to be addressed to accelerate and finalise the process of enacting the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea.

The participants also reviewed the preparations for the next meeting of foreign ministers to be held in Ashgabat this year.

The littoral states continued the well-established practice of holding roundtables dedicated to Caspian issues on the sidelines of major international events. On May 14 this year, Rossotrudnichestvo and the Russian Foreign Ministry organised a meeting during the 16th International Economic Forum Russia - Islamic World: KazanForum. The discussion, Caspian cooperation: Development of twinning relations, focused on interacting at the level of cities and municipalities. On May 16, the Russian Ministry of Transport organised a session on Transport cooperation between the Caspian littoral states.

The Defence Ministry’s Navigation and Oceanography Department is currently holding the Second Caspian Hydrographic Conference dedicated to hydrographic support of navigation in the Caspian Sea in Kaspiysk (Dagestan). The conference brought together representatives from the five states’ defence ministries.

The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will hold a roundtable on the sidelines of the 11th Nevsky International Ecological Congress in St Petersburg to consider ways to intensify the activities of respective agencies in the five states to address the Caspian Sea’s environmental issues, above all, its continuing shoaling.