Presence of armed forces and military activities in the Caspian Sea must be based on the principle of equal security conditions for all the Caspian basin states, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said yesterday at the session of Caspian basin Foreign Ministers in Moscow.
He said that five countries have adjusted the agreement on cooperation in the hydrometeorology field in the Caspian Sea for signing. The cooperation agreement for prevention and liquidation of emergency situations in the Caspian Sea has been coordinated as well.
The experts also continue work on the final wording of the agreement on preservation and efficient use of biological resources of the Caspian Sea.
All Caspian basin states have completed ratification of the cooperation agreement in field of safety in the Caspian Sea signed on November 18, 2010 in Baku and it will give a new impulse to a close cooperation between the sides in this field, Mammadyarov said.
Azerbaijan shares concern of the coastal states about condition of the Caspian Sea environment and thinks it is important to solve ecological problems of the Caspian Sea.
The Caspian Sea is the connecting link in many international and regional projects. Success of the projects connecting the Caspian Sea with the Black and Mediterranean Seas, such as the Baku-Supsa and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipelines, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will contribute to economic development and welfare of the Caspian basin states and the world energy safety.
“We realize importance of freedom of transit for the intercontinental Caspian basin states from the Caspian Sea to the other seas and the World ocean. We hope that all the issues related to the regime of commercial navigation, the right of peaceful passage of vessels through the zones under the national sovereignty of other sides, laying of cables and pipelines along the Caspian Sea bottom and performing the sea scientific studies will be settled during through the talks in accordance with the international maritime law,” Mammadyarov said.
