Elmar Mammadyarov: Caspian is a zone of peace and cooperation

Baku. 6 August. REPORT.AZ / " Caspian States have done a great job on agreement of the draft Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea".

Report informs, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told in an interview to RIA Novosti, commenting on the possible signing of the Convention before the Caspian summit in Kazakhstan.

"I should say that the huge work carried out over many years, has yielded results, which allowed to reach agreement on the draft Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. This created all the necessary basis for its signing at the V summit of the heads of the Caspian States in Kazakhstan," Mammadyarov said.

According to him, all countries had comments on the text of the Convention, which is a very common international practice in the development of such legal documents. He recalled that since 1996, when there was a special working group at the level of the Deputy Foreign Ministries of the Caspian States on the development of the Caspian Convention, 51 meetings had been held within this format.

Speaking about the agreement of the Caspian countries on the military presence of third countries in the Caspian Sea, the Minister stressed that the parties should adhere to the provisions settled in the Convention.

"The lack of the armed forces of non-negligent countries in the Caspian is one of such agreed points. In general, the document proclaims that the Caspian is a zone of peace, good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation. It should remain as a bridge that connects our countries, not limiting but expanding their opportunities, providing each of them with optimal conditions for the development of the national economy" , the Azerbaijani diplomat said.