ASHKHABAD The Turkmen Minister of Foreign Affairs Batyr Bardiyev here Thursday said Tehran and Ashkhabad have a common position regarding the legal regime of the Caspian Sea.
Bardiyev told IRNA that Iran and Turkmenistan have the same viewpoints about the issues of the Caspian Sea, and added that details of those issues had to be specified by experts in the Caspian Sea states.
He said Thursday's meeting of the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Euro-American affairs Morteza Sarmadi with Turkmen officials would help the development of an equitable sharing of the Caspian Sea by the countries sharing its coast.
Bardiyev said his country would object to any one-sided attempt by any one of the littoral states of the Caspian Sea to decide its legal regime.
He also said that Turkmenistan was reviewing the suggestions of Viktor Kalyuzhny, the special envoy of the Russian President Vladimir Putin, regarding the affairs of the Caspian Sea, and stressed that the final goal was to arrive at a consensus for clearing differences.
Meanwhile, Sarmadi said here Thursday that Tehran and Ashkhabad advocated an equal, perfect, and equitable sharing of the Caspian Sea as the desirable legal regime of the sea.
Sarmadi who had earlier visited the Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov told IRNA that Iran and Turkmenistan shared a common position regarding the various aspects of the legal regime of the Caspian Sea.
The position, he said, included the sharing of the sea, shipping, fishing, the environment and exploiting the natural resources of the Caspian Sea.
Sarmadi said that Iran and Turkmenistan agreed that all littoral states had to strive to protect the environment of the Caspian Sea, and said the two countries stressed demilitarization of the sea.
(IRNA)