Iran stresses need to preserve Caspian Sea for future generations
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian emphasized the need to preserve the environment and resources of the “strategic” Caspian Sea for the next generations.
Addressing a meeting of foreign ministers of the Caspian Sea littoral states in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, the Iranian top diplomat said that the sea is a common heritage, a center of friendship, and a source of blessings for more than 270 million people of the Caspian Sea countries.
Amir-Abdollahian said the Caspian Sea is considered as a strategic region due its geographical location which links the North-South and East-West corridors.
He also said that the coastal countries are responsible for maintaining stability, security, and sustainable development in the sea. The Iranian foreign minister said that any decision about Caspian Sea issues should be agreed by all five littoral states, stressing the need for the establishment of a secretariat to manage and monitor cooperation among the coastal countries.
He said that using the capacities of the Caspian Sea without taking into account the interests of other coastal countries would violate the rights of others.
To turn the sea into the symbol of friendship and development, the countries need to strengthen their interaction and cooperation, Amir-Abdollahian said.
Before departing Tehran, Amir-Abdollahian took to his X social media account and stressed the importance of regional cooperation in addressing shared challenges.
“Cooperation and collective participation is of paramount importance considering the diverse economic opportunities and environmental challenges in this region,” he said.
Boosting cooperation
Moscow expects cooperation between the Caspian Sea countries to get a boost following the Third Caspian Economic Forum to be held in Tehran, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
said.
“It is important to note that the Caspian issue is a priority for all of us, as it is regularly discussed by the presidents and heads of government of the Caspian Five.
A serious impetus for cooperation in this format was given during the Sixth Caspian Summit in Ashgabat last June and the Second Caspian Economic Forum in Moscow last October,” he said. “We expect further strengthening of this course on the basis of the results of the Third Caspian Economic Forum to be held in Tehran,” the top Russian diplomat pointed out. The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest closed inland reservoir surrounded by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. Iran has attached high priority to the consolidation of relations with neighboring countries in the region, clinching landmark agreements and entering international economic coalitions as part of the Islamic Republic’s policy of confronting Western unilateralism.
Tehran-Moscow deal
After the Caspian Sea meeting, the Iranian foreign minister held a separate meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, during which the two countries signed an agreement to make joint efforts to counter unilateral sanctions.
“We have just signed a declaration on ways and means to counteract, mitigate and compensate for the negative consequences of unilateral coercive measures,” Lavrov said. The Russian minister said this was an important step to “overcome the illegal sanctions that the United States and its allies have made as a substitute for
diplomacy.”
The agreement has officially been titled the Declaration of the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran on ways and means of countering, softening and compensating for the negative consequences of unilateral coercion measures, according to a report by Russia’s state-run TASS news agency.
Iran and Russia have already made joint efforts to reduce the impacts of Western sanctions on their economies.
The cooperation increased in early 2022, when the United States and its allies imposed a raft of sanctions on Russia for its war in Ukraine.
Iran has been under US sanctions since 2018, when the then administration in Washington withdrew from a deal on Iran’s nuclear program.