ASHGABAT, January 28. /TASS/. Russia and Turkmenistan actually have similar approaches to the Caspian issues and the sides are in favor of the Caspian Sea remaining a region of good neighborly cooperation with ensuring the military building transparency, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.
"The approaches of Russia and Turkmenistan to the coordination of the so far outstanding issues of the convention (on the Caspian Sea legal status) are close or identical. We are in favor of the Caspian as a sea of good neighborliness, we seek military building transparency here within the reasonable sufficiency limits. So that the Caspian littoral states could solve all the issues related to the use of this water body," Lavrov said after talks with the Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan, Rashid Meredov.
The ministers’ meeting ended the program of Lavrov’s two-day working visit to Ashgabat.
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- Putin, Turkmen leader discuss security in airspace over Caspian due to Russia's airstrikes
- Differences on using Caspian Sea bed remain
- Kazakhstan’s parliament ratifies agreement with Turkmenistan on Caspian Sea delimitation
The Russian foreign minister also said that the approaches of Moscow and Ashgabat to the five-sided economic cooperation in the Caspian are "close." "We also have close views regarding the need of some institutional registration of the agencies that will deal with the five-sided economic cooperation in the Caspian, settlement of the transport connection issues, fulfilling the logistical tasks that will allow us to effectively and profoundly develop trade-economic, investment and infrastructural ties," Lavrov said.
The five littoral states Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have been debating the status of the Caspian Sea for some 20 years trying to agree on whether the Caspian is a sea or a lake. If it is a sea each country would have its own sector to develop as it wishes and keep all profits from resources produced there. If it is a lake the five countries would have to share the profits from projects equally.