Iran Urges Concerted Action on Prosperity of Caspian Sea
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s president called on the Caspian Sea littoral states to make joint efforts for the well-being of the water body, underlining that a prosperous Caspian would require the nations to make “mutual interests” a priority.
“The Caspian Sea should be the center of development and welfare, the symbol of peace and security and symbol of cooperation among our nations,” President Hassan Rouhani said in his speech to the 4th summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states, held in Russia’s Astrakhan on Monday.
He also called on the Caspian littoral countries to “define mutual interests, organize a joint institution, and make joint investment” in a bid to develop the enclosed water body and keep it for the next generation.
On the issue of peace and stability in the Caspian Sea, President Rouhani insisted that the five littoral nations –Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan- should jointly stem extremism and terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crimes in that area.
He further emphasized the necessity to protect the flora and fauna of the Caspian Sea.
“We need to pay more attention to protection of the Caspian Sea’s vulnerable and delicate environment and its unique living aquatic resources,” he underlined.
The president went on to say that peace and security in the water body will materialize if the littoral countries avoid entering into an arms race and using armed forces in the lake.
He further insisted that only the five countries around the Caspian Sea should be entitled to maritime activities, rejecting the presence of armed forces from other foreign countries in the sea.
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed water body on earth by area, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea.
The Caspian Sea Convention will determine the territorial rights of littoral states as well as other matters related to the world’s largest landlocked body of water.
The Caspian Sea legal regime is based on two agreements signed between Iran and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1921 and 1940. The three new littoral states, established after the collapse of the Soviet Union, have not recognized the prior treaties, triggering a debate on the future status of the sea.
