Chairman of the upper chamber of the Turkmen parliament Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov discussed the organization of a meeting of the heads of parliaments of the Caspian region with the head of the State Duma of Russia Vyacheslav Volodin, according to the website of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

The head of the Halk Maslahaty of Milli Gengesh of Turkmenistan, who is on a working visit to Moscow, accepted the invitation of the Chairman of the State Duma to participate in a meeting at which the parties will consider key issues of interregional cooperation, and noted the need to specify the formats of work between the Caspian countries.

It is expected that the meeting of the heads of parliaments of the Caspian region will be held in Baku in 2023.

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, in turn, invited Vyacheslav Volodin to take part in the groundbreaking ceremony of the new Turkmen-Russian University in Ashgabat in 2023.

"We would be happy to lay the foundation of a new university together with you next year. Here we need your help in studying legal issues, as well as what faculties, directions, specialties are needed," the chairman of the upper chamber of the Turkmen parliament said. Vyacheslav Volodin accepted the invitation, the website of the State Duma reports.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdullahian stressed the importance of the agreement on direct baselines, speaking at a meeting of the foreign Ministers of the Caspian littoral states on Tuesday in Ashgabat.

In the four years since the signing of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, important steps have been taken forward, but such issues as the delimitation of the water space, the seabed and the subsoil remain unresolved.

A High-level Working Group was established to develop a draft agreement on direct baselines, which has already held four meetings to finalize the document.

In general, Abdullahian noted the promotion of five-sided cooperation in the Caspian Sea within the framework of the implementation of the Caspian Convention, aimed at taking into account the interests of all the Caspian states, which should only benefit from cooperation.

According to the Iranian Foreign Minister, trade and transport, which were given special attention at the current ministerial meeting, are the drivers of growth, prosperity and progress of the Caspian countries.

It’s common knowledge that on September 19, 1994, Azerbaijan and a consortium of international companies signed the first contract for the development of oil fields on the Caspian shelf. This agreement was called the "Contract of the Century" and put the foundation for cardinal changes in the region, opening it up to the world and bringing it out of the closed space of the former USSR. Azerbaijan rightfully considers this date, which is celebrated as the Day of the Oilman as important. This year, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev took part in the ceremony of laying the foundation for offshore operations at the Absheron field, where he gave a detailed interview to the country's leading TV channels.

Commenting on the situation in the zone of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, including the transit of military supplies from Russia to Armenia immediately after another aggravation of the situation in July this year, he in particular stressed: “I must say that I highly appreciate the actions of the Georgian Government in these events. As you know, Georgia did not allow the transportation of weapons to Armenia through its territory. That is why transport planes deliver weapons to Armenia through the territories of the Caspian littoral countries and by air. Georgia behaved like a very reliable partner. I would like to express my gratitude to the Georgian Government for this. I can say that we see the Georgian Government as a reliable partner and friend. Intergovernmental ties are strengthening day by day. Many important projects are being implemented. In the near future, our Foreign Minister will pay an official visit to Georgia. This will be his first visit to Georgia as Foreign Minister. The program of the visit is being prepared now. There are many questions. We are bound by both historical ties and common interests. Today, ties and developing cooperation between Georgia and Azerbaijan serve the interests of both countries. I want to say again that the Governments of Georgia and Azerbaijan are in close contact with each other, and this will continue".

On May 30, 2019, in Grigol Robakidze University the Embassy of Turkmenistan in Georgia held the Conference dedicated to the First Caspian Economic Forum,which will be held on August 12, 2019, in the National Tourist Zone “Avaza”, Turkmenbashi.

The round table was attended by faculty and students of universities of Georgia, media outlet representatives.

At the beginning of the round table, the video on the First Caspian Economic Forum’s significance and prospects was shown.

Speakers noted that the initiative to hold the First Caspian Economic Forum was proposed by President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov at the V Summit of the Heads of Caspian States. It was also underlined that one of the greatest challenges of this Forum is to use of the Caspian Sea unifying factor for consolidation of efforts aimed atexpanding mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation; the devising incentive mechanisms for national resources management, implementation of joint investment projects and programmers, sharing experiences on the economic cooperation issues, creation of joint ventures and active dialogue of business societies.

On February 11, 2019, the Embassy of Turkmenistan in Georgia held the briefing dedicated to the First Caspian Economic Forum, which is scheduled to be held on  August 12, 2019,  in the National Tourist Zone “Avaza”, Turkmenbashi.

The briefing was attended by representatives of TV-24, “Georgian Business Week”, the information agency “News Day Georgia”. newspapers “Multinational Georgia”, “Free Georgia” and others.

In his speech, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Turkmenistan in Georgia Mr.D.Muratov underlined that the initiative to hold the first Caspian Economic Forum was proposed by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov at the V Summit of the Heads of Caspian States, which was unanimously supported by all participants. Ambassador also noted that Turkmenistan has always taken and would continue to take active stance on Caspian Sea issues in order to ensure peace, security and stability in the region, consolidation of friendship and extensive cooperation between coastal states and their nations.

The journalists were informed about the International Media Forum organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan on the First Caspian Economic Forum, as well as about the progress in the preparing and holding the Forum. At the end of briefing, the participants noted that upcoming Forum would give a strong impulse to economic, trade and investment cooperation in Caspian Sea and neighbouring areas, turning Caspian Sea into one of the largest transport and transit hub of international significance.

Turkmenistan has started the detailed preparation to the First Caspian Economic Forum to be held on the 12^th of August 2019 in the National Tourist Zone “Avaza.”  It is favorably symbolical that the date of this first in the history large Caspian forum coincides with the Day of the Caspian Sea.

The implementation of measures on preparation and hosting the First Caspian Economic Forum unfolds in accordance with the Concept of holding the Forum affirmed by the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.  The organizational and analytical work is realized in the Coordination center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan established by the resolution of the Head of State on December 14, 2018 during the Meeting of the state’s government.

The first in the history forum of this type in the framework of the largest region in the world, which the Caspian basin happens to be, was initiated by the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov during the IV Summit of the Heads of the Caspian states that was held in Astrakhan, the Russian Federation on the 30^th September 2014.  This initiative is based on the notion that Turkmenistan sees strategical significance of the Caspian Sea in regional and interregional geopolitical and geo-economic processes, including its role as an important transit-transport and logistical tie which promotes the necessity to further unite the efforts on the Caspian states.  The development of constructive cooperation with the Caspian region states has been and remains to be the principle position and in this regard is among the priority vectors of foreign policy course of Turkmenistan.

The initiative of the Leader of Turkmenistan has found significantly new content in his address during the V Summit of the Heads of the Caspian states that was held in Aktau city of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the 12^th August 2018.  Underlining that the five-sided cooperation on the Caspian Sea by large depends on the level of participation of our states in trade, economic and transport processes, the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that holding the First Economic Forum in 2019 will serve as a proof of all Caspian states’ readiness to consolidate efforts in this regard.

In this context the support of the thoughts of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on holding the next Summit of the Heads of the Caspian states and the First Caspian Economic Forum in Turkmenistan turned to be the concrete reflection of high trust of the neighboring countries.  Simultaneously this decision assigns deep responsibility for coordinated actions in this Eurasian region, the significance of which goes far beyond its geographic borders in accord with conditions turning it to one of the key centers of the geopolitical and geo-economic processes.

The upcoming in the August of the current year the First Caspian Economic Forum serves as one of the preliminary events of strategic appeal in the newest history of Caspian states’ mutual relations, prescribed by the functioning of such significant international legal document, which the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea signed on the 12^th of August 2018 happens to be.  As is known, this founding international legal document which summarizes the results of long-term negotiation process of littoral Caspian states promises to open wide opportunities for realization of new investment projects in the Caspian region.       

According to the conceptual vision of the organizers, the Agenda of the First Caspian Economic Forum will encompass wide range of issues which will further form the base for prospective directions of cooperation of states participants.  It is planned that during the exchange of views and constructive negotiations actual subjects concerning the intensification of trade and economic relations including creation of conditions for development and implementation of large projects will be proposed.  It is awaited that there will be interesting discussions on the role of economy of the Caspian region in global context, including the increase of growth factors for investment motivation in the spheres of industry, energy, trade, tourism and other sectors of economies of Caspian states posing mutual interest. 

 The platform of the First Caspian Economic Forum will provide for practical exchange of views on implementation of the Intergovernmental Agreement between the Caspian states on trade and economic cooperation and Intergovernmental Agreement between the Caspian states on cooperation in the transport sphere.  As is known, these multilateral documents were signed on the 12^th of August 2018 as a result of the V Summit of the Heads of the Caspian states.       

In the Coordination center on preparation and conducting the First Caspian Economic Forum, along with the main events, programs of the International Conference and Caspian Exhibition of Innovative Technologies are being designed.  Alongside, forming of favorable conditions for fruitful meetings and negotiations in the sidelines of the Forum between the government representatives, as well as business circles and companies are projected.   

Delegations of the Caspian states, including heads and members of governments, heads of seaside regions and heads of regional executive management agencies, representatives of the banking sector and business circles of the Caspian region as well as stakeholder countries, scientific workers, and company managers realizing activities in the Caspian Sea are invited to participate to the Forum.   Delegations of other stakeholder parties, firstly the states in close proximity to the Caspian region as well as representatives of international economic and financial organizations are also invited to the Forum.       

The upcoming event is aimed to give strong prudent impulse to the economic, trade and investment cooperation on the Caspian Sea and nearby regions, transforming the Caspian region into one of the largest transport and transit bonds of international scope playing vital role in forming new geo-economic space in Eurasia which is able to meet the modern global tendencies. 

 Being the initiator and organizer of the First Caspian Economic Forum, Turkmenistan proves in practice its adherence to the policy of wide international cooperation in the Caspian region, turning it to the area of peace, security and stable development.