President leaves Tehran for Ashgabat

Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, accompanied by Hojatoleslam val-Moslemin Mohsen Qomi, Vice-President for International Affairs, Mohammad Mokhber, First Vice-President, and a group of cabinet members, left Tehran for the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat to attend the 6th Summit of the Caspian Sea Littoral States.

In this visit, in addition to participating and addressing the Summit of the Caspian Sea Littoral States, the President will also meet with the presidents of the countries taking part at the summit.

Speaking to reporters about the purpose of his visit to Turkmenistan on Wednesday morning before leaving Tehran for Ashgabat, Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi said, "This visit is taking place at the invitation of the esteemed President of the brotherly and friendly country of Turkmenistan in order to attend the Summit of the Caspian Littoral States".

The President called the Caspian Sea a common heritage and capital for its littoral states and more than 270 million people living in the region, and added, "We have good relations with the littoral states of the Caspian Sea, but in addition to reviewing the legal regime of the Caspian Sea and peaceful use of the sea for the purpose of improving security at the sea, what will be discussed at the Sixth Summit of the Caspian Sea Littoral States is cooperation between countries in the fields of transport, transit, trade, management of marine living resources, environment, as well as preventing the presence of outsiders in the sea, which is also agreed upon by all coastal countries".

Raisi further said, "In addition to participating in this summit and talks with the leaders of the littoral states, we will also have bilateral talks following the previous talks with the President of Turkmenistan".

Referring to the very good relations between Iran and Turkmenistan in the last 30 years, Dr Raisi stated, "Despite the obstacles that coronavirus and some other issues have created in the relations between the two countries over the past few months, today we see that in addition to transit and gas swaps, strengthening trade and economic relations between the two countries is also on the agenda".

Stating that the indicators show that the level of relations has increased in the past few months, especially in the field of economics and trade between the two countries, Ayatollah Raisi added, "We hope that this visit can establish and expand the cordial cooperation that exists between the two countries in playing a role in regional and international fields".