Today, the capital has hosted the Sixth Caspian Summit, which was held under the chairmanship of President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov. The luxurious Arkadag Hotel, which provided all conditions for reception of high guests as well as organization of large international events, became the venue for the Ashgabat meeting of heads of the Caspian states.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin arrived in the Turkmen capital to participate in the Summit.
In the international airport of Ashgabat, where on flagpoles state flags of the five neighbouring countries were raised and the Guard of honour was lined up, high guests were accorded a warm and hearty welcome. According to the established noble tradition of hospitality, heads of the Caspian states were treated to bread and salt and presented with bouquets of flowers.
Before the start of the Sixth Caspian Summit, Chairman of the Khalk Maslakhaty of the Milli Gengesh of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov met with Presidents of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan and Russian Federation.
Then, high guests headed towards the capital Arkadag Hotel. There, the day before the Summit, the President of Türkmenistan held bilateral meetings with his foreign colleagues.
Before the start of the Sixth Caspian Summit of heads of the Caspian states, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov warmly and friendly welcomed each of the distinguished guests in the lobby of the Arkadag Hotel.
After the traditional ceremony of joint photographing against the background of the official banner of the Ashgabat Summit, its participants proceeded to the Small Conference Hall, where a five-sided high-level meeting was held in a narrow format.
Welcoming the heads of the Caspian states and thanking everyone for accepting the invitation to participate in this Summit, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov stated that twenty years have passed since the first meeting in this format in Ashgabat.
It was in Ashgabat, where twenty years ago, in 2002 the First Caspian Summit, which became a starting point for defining priory areas of fruitful long-term cooperation, was held. The initiator of the current high-level meeting is also Turkmenistan. Hero Arkadag made the proposal on it during the Fifth Caspian Summit, which was held in Aktau (Republic of Kazakhstan) in August, 2018.
Then the Sixth Caspian Summit continued in the Large Conference Hall in an expanded format.
Once again cordially welcoming Presidents of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan and Russian Federation to Turkmenistan and thanking everyone for accepting the invitation to participate in the 6th meeting of the heads of the Caspian states, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov noted that our country perceives this as a confirmation of common goals in the Caspian, readiness to continue close partnership.
- The most important task and at the same time the main condition for the success of the five-sided cooperation is to ensure a strong, long-term and indivisible security in the Caspian region, - the head of Turkmenistan emphasized. – Together we must ensure that the Caspian region remains a zone of stability and trust.
In the course of a number of years, experts of the Caspian states have carried out the work on documents in the sphere of poaching, illegal drug trafficking, ensuring of navigation safety, search and rescue at sea.
Having thanked all participants of this process for their contribution to the achievement of target goals, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov expressed hope that the given work will be completed in the near future.
An unconditional priority of cooperation in the Caspian is the economic sphere. It is versatile and includes transport, logistics, communications, energy, production partnership and many others. In this regard, the decision on creation the Caspian economic forum, a promising and partnership of unique format in many respects is a breakthrough. The first of such forum was held in Turkmenbashi city in the summer of 2019. The decisions and agreements reached then became a substantial platform for strategic planning of economic activities on the Caspian Sea and outlined its perspectives. First of all, it concerns transport.
As was further underlined by President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, our common important goal is protection of the environment of the Caspian Sea. The position of Turkmenistan here is clearly formulated and of principle: all economic and production activities should strictly comply with the ecological safety of the water reservoir and meet world standards of environmental sphere. In this context, a decisive significance is given for well-coordinated work of already created mechanisms of cooperation. The initiative of Turkmenistan on development of the Agreement on conduction of research activities in the Caspian Sea is aimed at enhancement of efficiency of joint work in the given area.
Turkmenistan has already brought forward an idea of creation of the new Caspian environment program as a complex of nature conservation measures for ensuring the rational use of natural resources of the Caspian Sea. We are ready to continue an active dialogue on this topic and hope for all round support of the Caspian countries, the head of the state noted.
Speaking of the Caspian sea as area of cooperation and mutual understanding, we attach due attention to the development of humanitarian relations, the head of Turkmenistan marked underlining in the given context, an accurate and well-coordinated work in the period of coronavirus pandemic. During that complicated period of time, Caspian states joined efforts demonstrating solidarity and mutual assistance. In this connection, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov expressed his sincere gratitude to all Presidents of the neighbouring countries.
At the end of his speech, the President of Turkmenistan expressed his special gratitude to Presidents of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan and Russian Federation for their great personal contribution to the development of good neighbourliness and cooperation in the Caspian Sea, constructivism and respectfulness.
Further, the floor was given to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. Having thanked President Serdar Berdimuhamedov for the accorded hospitality and high level of organization of the Sixth Caspian Summit, the head of the friendly state also pointed out that the present meeting coincides with the birthday anniversary of Chairman of the Khalk Maslakhaty of the Milli Gengesh Gurbanguly Malikguliyevich Berdimuhamedov, under the chairmanship of whom Turkmenistan has reached a significant progress to strengthen its independence, to augment its authority in the international area and to raise wellbeing of its people and develop its economy.
Having thanked President Ilham Aliyev for his substantial speech and congratulations, the President of Turkmenistan gave the floor to President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Seyed Ebrahim Raisi.
Today, the sides maintain mutual understanding, definite goals and clear vision for continuation of the path started. All this is the result of a well-coordinated activity, well-thought approach, and far-sightedness in solution of topical issues of cooperation in the Caspian Sea taking into account mutual interests of both sides.
The Iranian leader also marked the significance of earlier reached agreements aimed at expansion of multifaceted cooperation between Caspian states and realization of its potential.
Further, the floor was given to President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who in the beginning of his speech expressed his gratitude to President Serdar Berdimuhamedov for warm welcome in the wonderful city of Ashgabat and proper organization of the Summit.
The Kazakh leader also noted that the current meeting coincided with the birthday anniversary of the outstanding state figure of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Malikguliyevich Berdimuhamedov. As President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said, today, he sincerely congratulated Hero Arkadag and awarded him the highest order of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Order of the Golden Eagle (Altyn Qyran).
In his speech, the Kazakh leader also touched upon the issue of ensuring food safety in the region pointing out that for the strengthening of trade cooperation between the littoral states it is necessary to steadily develop the modern logistics infrastructure. In the given context, the proposal of Kazakhstan on creation of the Caspian food hub, which will enable to raise the mutual trade turnover with minimal expenditures, was also mentioned.
Having thanked President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for his substantial speech, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov gave the floor to President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
– Close adherence to principles laid out in the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian sea, in which mainly the following is stipulated: namely the five Caspian countries bear responsibility for conservation of the Caspian sea and sustainable development of the region before the present and future generation, serves as a pledge of prosperity of our common region, President Vladimir Putin stated.
Further development of regional trade and investment relations, deepening of mutually beneficial industrial and high tech cooperation were outlined as priority goals. As was noted, the volume of trade between Russia and the Caspian states constantly grows. So, in 2021 the trade turnover grew by more than thrice, 35 percent making up 34 billion US dollars. In January-April months of this year it grew again by 12, 5 percent.
– In this context, a significant role is attached to the Caspian economic forum crated at the initiative of respected Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov whom today we are glad to congratulate with high birthday anniversary, the Russian leader said.
In the opinion of President Vladimir Putin, it is necessary to complete the process of establishment of a relevant contractual legal basis, the backbone of which is made up with the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea, so called the Teheran Convention of 2003 for more efficient preservation of the delicate marine eco-system. In this connection, it was proposed to think over the call of a conference by participants of the Convention in the near future.
Having expressed his gratitude to President Vladimir Putin for his substantial speech, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov noted that the role of the Russian Federation in achievement of goals set within the framework of the five Caspian states was always significant and constructive.
Concluding the meeting, the head of Turkmenistan once again thanked his foreign colleagues, all delegations for constructivism, focus on achieving practical results, as well as for the valuable ideas and proposals expressed during the Summit.
As a result of the Sixth Caspian Summit, a corresponding Communiqué was adopted.
The results of the Ashgabat five-sided summit were announced in a statement to the media representatives, which was delivered by the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan R. Meredov.
In the course of the Summit, the necessity to develop and expand trade relations between littoral countries, to increase in goods turnover and develop closer production cooperation was underlined. In this regard, Turkmenistan made a proposal today on creation of the Business Cooperation Council of the Caspian states as an independent platform for conduction of private business and entrepreneurship initiatives.
Presidents of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan and Russian Federation made concrete proposals and initiatives aimed at further expansion of economic ties between Caspian states.
Ecology, nature protection, preservation of bio-resources of the Caspian Sea became important topics for discussion. In these areas, there were created mechanisms of cooperation and goals to attach more well-coordinated and detailed character to its work were set.
As a whole, the course and content of today’s high-level meeting was highly appreciated. The constructive mood of its participants, adherence to common creative goals became a bright evidence of close partnership in the Caspian Sea. Heads of states also expressed their sincere gratitude for the organization of the present Summit.
Leaders of the Caspian states confirmed their confidence in necessity and usefulness of continuation of five-sided high-level meetings on a regular basis. Each of them makes an important contribution to the strengthening of friendship, cooperation and mutual understating between our peoples and countries, discovery and implementation of enormous joint potential.
The President of Turkmenistan gave an official reception in honour of heads of the Caspian states.
At the end of the program of the Sixth Caspian Summit, the distinguished guests departed from the Turkmen capital.
