International working group on Caspian meets in Tehran

The working group on the Caspian Sea at the level of deputy foreign ministers of the five Caspian states -- Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan -- continues to work in Tehran, the capital of Iran. The conference began its second day on Tuesday by a meeting of the specialized power committee.

As Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Kamal Kharrazi said on the previous day, the Caspian "must remain a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation and be a connecting link in the relations between the five countries." Nevertheless, the head of Iran's foreign policy department reiterated his country's position, which is in favour of dividing the Caspian Sea bottom into five equal sectors. The existing differences between the Caspian countries prevent the settlement of the central Caspian problem -- definition of the legal status of the sea.