Lavrov speaks about main achievement of Caspian Sea convention

Baku. 10 December. REPORT.AZ/ The main achievement of the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea is a confirmation by the five countries of their responsibility for everything happening in the Caspian Sea and this document will be a great impulse for the development of cooperation between the Caspian states in different spheres, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

Report informs citing RIA Novosti that, according to the Russian Foreign Minister, the Caspian summit in Aktau ended more than a 20-year-old work over the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

"This work was primarily needed for the maximally effective use of the rich energy and biological resources as well as the transport opportunities offerred by the Caspian Sea. I think that the main achievement of the convention is that all five countries clearly confirmed their full responsibility for everything happening in the Caspian Sea. They will settle all issues emerging there," Lavrov said in the interview to Kazakhstan's Khazar information agency.

He said off-regional countries are invited to cooperation but on the conditions agreed between the five Caspian states in this Convention.

The minister also noted that the criteria needed to agree on the issues to identify the sovereign and fishing zone of each Caspian state were defined calling it yet another 'very important achievement'.

"The countries designated the ways to ensure ecological and environmental protection in the Caspian Sea basin, provisions of economic management of the sea so that it was economically profitable and environmentally safe," Lavrov noted.

"I think that this Convention will be a great impulse for the development of cooperation between the Caspian states in the sphere of economy, ecology, preservation of biological resources for future generations. Certainly, this is a great success of the summit," he added.