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Summit for Caspian states may be held in early 2018

There are plans to sign a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea at the summit

MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/. Representatives of Caspian states may convene for a summit in Astana in early 2018, and foreign ministers from Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan may meet in Moscow this coming December to discuss preparation for the summit, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said on the Russia 24 television channel live on Tuesday.

"Work is underway in this area, and now we are trying to wrap up some details for this document. [We] will probably manage to convene foreign ministers in Moscow roughly in December so that the final summit could be organized by the spring. This time it is due to be held in Kazakhstan, most probably in Astana," he said.

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Karasin noted that the Caspian summit should act as a role model in cooperation amid "various unpredictable approaches to large international problems." "This will enable the whole five wait for no gifts from extra-regional players and no faster development of the international situation, as well as provide the possibility to act independently and become an example of good regional cooperation," he added.

There are plans to sign a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea at a regular Caspian summit.

The issue of the Caspian Sea status remains a key discussion issue at the Caspian summits. The leaders of the five countries first met in Ashgabat in 2002. The second Caspian summit was held in Teheran in 2007, the third in Baku in 2010 and the fourth in Astrakhan in 2014.

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