Moscow will host a forum on November 10 related to the forum of the
heads of Caspian states held in Baku on November 18, deputy head of
the history department of the Moscow State University Alexey Vlasov
said.
The round table will be organized by the Institute of Caspian
Cooperation, headed by Sergey Mikheyev.
Vestnik Kavkaza will cover the event.
The sides plan to compare notes on the most significant aspects of the
Caspian issue. The most important is the determination of the five
leaders' attitude towards the establishment of the Organization for
Caspian Economic Cooperation (OCEC) and the possibility of the sides
to coming to a consensus, Vlasov said.
He believes that the key issues are: bio-resources, that keep
worsening every year, and the main principles of the geo-policies of
the Caspian.
Vlasov pointed out that there is a belief that Caspian issues can be
solved within the Caspian states without other countries being
involved. "The solidarity of experts and the center we represent shows
that Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have common grounds in their
approach to the Caspian issue", Vlasov said.
The head of the Center for Caucasus Studies at the Russian State
University for the Humanities, Ismail Agagishiyev, said that while the
Caspian issue has always been viewed from the economic point of view,
the sides need to stress the security aspect.
The main roles in solving the issue belong to Russia and Iran because
it is of importance to them to prevent the USA from interfering in the
region, he said.
