OREANDA-NEWS. September 14, 2009. Dmitry Medvedev, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Ilham Aliyev and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov gathered for an informal meeting to discuss regional and international issues of mutual interest, deepening their trade and economic cooperation, and general economic projects.

The four leaders stated that they had no intention of discussing Caspian matters without Iran’s participation, and said they hope to hold the next summit of the Caspian region countries soon in Baku.

Mr Medvedev briefed his colleagues on the positions Russia will take at the upcoming G20 summit in Pittsburgh.

PRESIDENT OF KAZAKHSTAN NURSULTAN NAZARBAYEV: Colleagues,

I am very grateful that today, Friday, you accepted my invitation to visit another part of Kazakhstan near our common Caspian Sea, to spend the weekend talking about our affairs and trade between our countries. It is important that Kazakhstan use the city of Aktau to trade with Baku, Makhachkala and Turkmenbashi, and we can try to further expand such trade for the benefit of all nations.
We will not be discussing today the problem of the Caspian Sea – that is a separate issue. We last discussed it in Tehran. It was agreed that the next meeting would be held in Baku. We hope that we will all meet soon with the Iranian side and discuss this issue that is so important for all of us. So today we can exchange views on bilateral issues, multilateral issues and spend some time on the shore of the Caspian Sea. Thank you.

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Colleagues,

First of all, I would like to thank Mr Nazarbayev for inviting us to spend some time here. For me at least, this is my first time here, and I look forward to touring Aktau and the other places we will be visiting.

We have many topics for discussion. We just had a bilateral meeting in Orenburg. All of us here have bilateral projects that need to be developed, and other issues to be reviewed.

I am sure that the matters relating to the Caspian Sea should only be discussed with involvement of all nations of the region, hence I support the idea brought forward, of examining the possibility of holding a respective summit in Baku, as suggested by Tehran. This may be a productive idea in case Mr Aliyev is ready to be a host for all of us. But it is essential that by the summit time we are in full accord on all basic parameters.

As for today’s agenda, I do think there are sufficient points to be addressed, including various bilateral and multilateral issues. Shortly, a number of major international events will take place. We all will in one way or another participate in the UN General Assembly which will be followed by the G20 summit. I would like to brief you, as our friends, on Russia’s standpoints at the summit, on the proposals we intend to make, and on the overall situation as we see it.

Various economies seem to be generally getting out of the nosedive we have all seen, but it is nevertheless too early to be complacent. It is most imperious for the international community and the world’s largest economies to progress with reforming and restructuring the global financial system. It appears though that it is not everyone’s aspiration at the moment as some would prefer to preserve the things the way they are, claiming the crisis was nobody’ fault, everything was fine and will only get better. No way, it is quite the opposite. The international financial system requires a major overhaul because our nations have been experiencing the impact of the global financial crisis and we all have been going through diverse hardships.

Thus, I would suggest to jointly examine our common approaches, so that a consolidated standing could be manifested at the G20 summit. We should certainly try to cover other issues as well.

PRESIDENT OF TURKMENISTAN GURBANGULY BERDIMUHAMEDOV: Thank you, Mr Nazarbayev, for your invitation, which has resulted in our meeting here in beautiful Kazakhstan.
It is absolutely right to point out that the issues of the Caspian Sea should be considered by all five countries involved, that is, with the participation of Iran.

It was also correct to say that we have a lot of bilateral and regional issues. So I think that our meeting will produce very good results in so far as cooperation is concerned.

PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN ILHAM ALIYEV: I would like to thank Mr Nazarbayev for the invitation to visit the fraternal country of Kazakhstan. I always have a good feeling when I come to your country. Such visits are a chance to exchange views and get to know new cities. We often meet at various events, including formal and informal CIS summits, which makes our interactions part of a natural process.
Today's meeting at your initiative also creates a good opportunity just to exchange views in an informal atmosphere, without a preset agenda, on issues of mutual - either multilateral or bilateral - interest. Relations among all of our countries are very good.
Naturally, we are preparing to conduct the summit in Baku, as was decided in Tehran at the last summit of Caspian Sea countries. The preparations are progressing, the experts are at work, and we want to arrive at the summit in Baku with concrete solutions, so that it will mark a big step forward like the one in Tehran. The decisions made at the Tehran summit are very important, and I am sure that the implementation of these decisions will enable the issues of the demarcation of frontiers in Caspian Sea basin to be successfully resolved in a spirit of friendship and good neighbourliness. Today is just a good opportunity to discuss issues that exist in other areas between our countries.
I would like to once again welcome my distinguished colleagues, and thank you, Mr Nazarbayev, for again creating the perfect atmosphere for our meeting.

NURSULTAN NAZARBAYEV: Dear friends,

The President of Russia and I have just come from our regional bilateral meeting in Orenburg. Our two countries have very good and trustworthy relations with Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. There are no serious or significant problems among us. If minor problems do arise we can resolve them through negotiations, as we all always do. This sort of unfettered discussion, this free exchange of views benefits everyone, all our countries. Thank you for coming. Thank you.