Russia welcomes Iran’s proposal to host Caspian summit in 2026

Reuters

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed his country’s agreement with Tehran’s plans to host the summit meeting of the Caspian Sea littoral states in 2026.

“The date coincides the International Caspian Sea Day,” official IRNA news agency quoted Lavrov saying at a joint press conference with his Kazakh counterpart in Moscow on Thursday.

The International Caspian Sea Day is an occasion observed every 12th of August by the five littoral states Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan.

On this day, the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Caspian Sea and the Environment from Pollution was signed in Tehran and came into force.

As the largest inland body of water which accounts for about 44 percent of the total lake waters of the world, the Caspian Sea is facing environmental challenges including shrinking water levels, industrial pollution due to increasing oil exploration and endangered wildlife species.

To overcome these challenges, the five littoral states have been required to protect the sea’s ecosystem in this geo-politically and geo-economically strategic transit route of Eurasia.

In the latest development, Iran’s Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali was quoted saying that the first ever conference of governor generals of the Caspian Sea littoral provinces will convene in the northern Gilan Province on Nov. 18-19, 2025.

“We are in contact with Caspian Sea states to secure their agreements to convention of the summit in Iran,” he said on the sidelines of the Provincial Diplomacy Conference in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

According to Jalali, Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to participate in the Caspian summit next year in Tehran.

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