On February 19, 2018, Baku hosted the first meeting of the joint working group on the future development of energy cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of Turkmenistan on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding dated 8 August 2017, the press service for the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan reported.

According to News.az Delegations led by Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Khalaf Khalafov and Chairman of the State Enterprise on Caspian Sea Affairs Murad Atajanov attended the meeting.

It was noted during the meeting that the agreements reached at the level of heads of the two countries give impetus to the further strengthening of friendly and neighborly relations and the development of fruitful cooperation.

At the same time, the participants of the meeting emphasized that the agreement on the Draft Caspian Sea Legal Status Convention reached in Moscow last year would serve to solve the issues of mutual interest in the Caspian Sea.

The sides discussed prospects for development of energy cooperation between the two countries on the principles of equality and mutual benefit for achieving the objectives of the Memorandum, and noted that such cooperation would make a great contribution to the economies of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

The parties also discussed issues related to the division of the Caspian Sea between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

Given that the two countries have high energy potential, discussions have been held to improve the contractual framework in the Caspian Sea to achieve future agreements that will enable the consolidation of efforts and expansion of energy projects, and agreed to hold the next meeting in Turkmenistan.