Tehran - BORNA - Seyyed Abbas Araghchi spoke today, Tuesday, November 18, at the International Conference of Caspian Governors, saying: "I am very happy that we are holding the first meeting of the governors of the coastal provinces of the Caspian Sea in the beautiful city of Rasht, and I must thank the Governor of Gilan, the Members of Parliament from this province, the neighboring provinces of Mazandaran and Golestan, and other officials for their excellent hosting."
He added: "Our neighbors are our priority; this is the most crucial principle in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. We plan and strive to expand relations with our neighbors and utilize the vast political, economic, social, cultural, and even security capacities with them, and our foreign policy is oriented in this direction."
The Iranian Foreign Minister stated: "The Islamic Republic of Iran shares borders with 15 countries by sea and land, and we have very good neighbors around us. Especially in the two water domains, the Persian Gulf in the south and the Caspian Sea in the north; the Caspian Sea region is as important to us as the Persian Gulf and its surrounding area. We deal with very important neighbors in this region and have very important issues here as well."
Araghchi noted: "The Caspian littoral states, understanding the importance of this region and the common interests—and sometimes common concerns—they share, have been engaged in joint cooperation for years. We regularly held summits for the heads of the Caspian littoral states, and now we are holding this new initiative of the coastal governors' meeting."
Stating that the Islamic Republic of Iran's relations with all countries in the Caspian Sea region are excellent, he said: "We have established very good, and in some cases, strategic relations with all these countries. The Russian Federation is a strategic partner; a 20-year long-term cooperation agreement for a strategic partnership was signed between the presidents of Iran and Russia last year, and close political, economic, and international exchanges are underway between us and Russia."
He noted that officials from the area frequently visit each other: "Dr. Pezeshkian has traveled to Russia, just as he had a very important trip to Azerbaijan and I think he will travel to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan within the next month. The relations between the heads of the countries in this region are very close and highly important."
The Iranian Foreign Minister pointed out that the Caspian Sea region is vital in terms of both energy and corridors and transit routes, emphasizing: "Economic and commercial cooperation among the countries in this region, utilizing the Caspian Sea route, holds tremendous importance for all regional countries. Similarly, in the field of tourism, as Dr. Salehi Amiri excellently described, the capacities that exist in our three coastal provinces—Gilan, Mazandaran, and Golestan—alongside Iran's pilgrimage cities like Mashhad, are the biggest tourism destinations for Iranians, and I hope they will also become tourism destinations for the countries around the Caspian Sea."
Referring to the potential for fisheries in the Caspian, he concluded: "I wish this meeting success. I hope that in your discussions, common areas of cooperation will be further identified and utilized. We initiated provincial diplomacy domestically a few months ago. Our provinces are gradually becoming active in their international relations. This is the first joint session where we are holding provincial diplomacy with the provinces of neighboring countries, and I think it will be a very good experience, God willing. We will repeat joint sessions of border governors and governors of adjacent provinces with their counterparts in neighboring countries in other areas as well. I once again wish all of you success and hope this session leads to very good outcomes."
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