BAKU Azeri President Heidar Aliyev stressed Saturday the need for cooperation among the Caspian Sea littoral states to determine the Caspian Sea legal regime.

In a meeting with Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for the Euro-American Affairs Ali Ahani, the Azeri president emphasized the regular holding of the joint working groups meetings for consultations in order to reach a consensus on the legal regime of the Caspian Sea.

He said a series of problems exist that should be solved through regular deliberations among the representatives of all the five states surrounding the Caspian Sea.

He hoped that a plan agreed upon by all the interested parties be prepared and submitted to the summit of the head of Caspian Sea states for approval. He called upon all the Caspian Sea states to make efforts to reach a consensus on the legal regime of the sea.

In another development Aliyev presented congratulations to the Iranian government and nation on the reelection of President Khatami for another four-year presidency term.

Ahani said there are great prospects in the Tehran-Baku ties. He termed as "positive" the steps taken for converging the stands of the Caspian Sea littoral states on the sea legal regime.

Ahani said the determination of the Caspian Sea legal regime would prepare grounds for the foreign companies to invest in the Caspian Sea region.

Earlier Saturday Ahani stressed that the mutual accords among the Caspian Sea littoral states will be valid if they are consented by all the five states.

In a meeting with his Turkmen counterpart Alboes Kepbanev in Baku on the sidelines of the fourth meeting of the deputy foreign ministers of the Caspian Sea littoral states, Ahani said the Caspian Sea is a common water belonging to all the littoral states and its problems should be solved through consensus among all the states.

He welcomed continuation of mutual consultations by representatives of all the littoral states and said attitude toward the Caspian Sea legal regime should be a comprehensive look so that all aspects of the issue should be duly dealt with. He said these countries could make arrangements for holding separate meetings for their fisheries and environment protection organizations and add their agreements as annexes to a comprehensive Caspian Sea legal regime's convention.

Kepbanev said agreements for cooperation among the littoral states in the fields of fisheries and environment should be drafted concurrently or after the comprehensive convention for the Caspian Sea legal regime. He said materialization of such ideas as establishment of a center to supervise Caspian ecosystem monitoring needs further investigation.

The fourth meeting of the deputy foreign ministers of the Caspian Sea is underway in Baku since Friday. The meeting discussed different Caspian issues including its legal regime, the statement of the Caspian Sea summit and viewpoints of the littoral states on the system for exploitation of the sea's resources, IRNA reported.