Russia to host Caspian Economic Forum in October

Russia will host the Caspian Economic Forum in October of this year, Yury Ushakov, a presidential aide, told reporters on Monday.

"At the initiative of Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the former president [of Turkmenistan], a Caspian Economic Forum took place in Turkmenistan in 2019," the official said. "Now we are picking up the baton of hosting this [event] and plan to hold the forum in Russia in October of this year."

Regarding another Caspian-related event, Ushakov said that Moscow is hoping the Caspian summit happening on June 29 will reaffirm the strategic manner of multilateral cooperation in the region.

"We expect that the talks in Ashgabat will lead to a reaffirmation of the strategic nature of multilateral cooperation in the Caspian Sea, and most importantly, the commitment to the principles of interaction that were enshrined in the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea will be reaffirmed," he said.

The Kremlin official highlighted that thanks to the collective efforts of all littoral states, the Caspian region as a whole is characterized by stable, conflict-free development, and a very high level of trust and mutual understanding is maintained between neighbors. "In general, the atmosphere of friendship and cooperation reigns in the Caspian," he said.