TEHRAN - The presidents of the five Caspian Sea littoral states have signed an agreement on security cooperation in the Caspian Sea region.

The agreement was signed by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan at the third summit of Caspian Sea littoral states in Baku on November 18.
Security issues of the Caspian Sea region and protection of the sea’s environment were the main points of the 15-paragraph agreement.
Iranian Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov also issued a joint declaration at the end of the summit.
“The sides declare that they recognize the sovereign rights of littoral states with respect to the Caspian Sea and its resources. They confirm their intention to complete work on the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. This convention will be the basic document that will regulate the activities of the littoral states in the Caspian Sea,” the joint declaration read, according to the News.az website.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the littoral states have held numerous expert meetings and have made progress in some areas. For example, a convention for protecting the sea’s environment was signed by the five countries in November 2003 and went into effect on August 12, 2006, with the cooperation of the UN Environment Program (UNEP).
An agreement on sharing the sea could pave the way for great new developments, particularly seabed oil and natural gas pipelines that could dramatically change the economic landscape of the region, which holds up to 200 billion barrels of recoverable oil according to some estimates.
So far, the littoral states have reached a consensus on 70 percent of the Caspian Sea legal regime.
The second summit of Caspian Sea littoral states was held in Tehran in 2007.
Ahmadinejad proposes 6-point plan for Caspian states
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a speech at the summit in which he stated that the current world order is no longer efficient and emphasized the necessity of promoting a new world order based on justice.
Ahmadinejad also proposed the following six-point plan on additional cooperation among the five Caspian states:
(1) Humanitarian culture and values are the most important factors for safeguarding the sovereignty and dignity of our nations against expansionist political and cultural warfare, and maintaining and promoting this culture requires paying attention to it, relying on it, and safeguarding it, so the expansion of comprehensive cultural cooperation must be put on the agenda.
(2) Purposeful negotiations and consultations to reform the current situation in the world, assess the humanitarian aspects of the (future) new order, and determine how all countries can cooperate in this issue must be organized.
(3) Establishing joint shipping companies, providing customs facilities, increasing the volume of trade exchanges, and expanding cooperation in the areas of energy, tourism, culture, and sports must be put on the agenda.
(4) The drafting of the Caspian Sea legal regime must be finalized next year through the continuation of multilateral summits, which provides a firmer guarantee for reaching a fair and permanent consensus.
(5) Economic cooperation among the member states through reliance on their capabilities, resources, and national currencies could reduce the vulnerability resulting from the international economic system and create new opportunities.
(6) Launching a coordinated campaign against the factors which pose a threat to the stability and security of the Caspian Sea and preventing foreign players from entering the sea are key factors for maintaining peace and security in the sea and our countries.
In conclusion, Ahmadinejad said Iran is prepared to cooperate with the other four Caspian Sea states in the implementation of all these points.