MOSCOW, August 23 (RIA Novosti) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is expected to travel to Russia’s city of Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea to take part in the Fourth Caspian Summit, Iran’s Press TV channel said.
“Iran's President Hassan Rouhani is scheduled to visit Russia on Sep. 29 to attend the upcoming summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states,” the news channel said Saturday.
The summit of the so-called Caspian Five – Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan — is expected to build on a decade of talks aimed at carving up the world’s largest landlocked sea.
Large fishery resources, as well as vast oil and gas deposits have made the sea a subject of heated territorial disputes.
For decades, the inland sea was the exclusive domain of the USSR and Iran, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union new players emerged to claim an interest in the region. Since 1992, the Caspian Five have been engaged in negotiations related to the demarcation of rights in the sea.
