The fifth meeting of authorized representatives of the Caspian littoral states has begun at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan to discuss a draft Protocol of Cooperation on the Safety of Maritime Navigation in the Caspian Sea. The two-day event was co-organized on instructions from President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Industry and Communications and the State Enterprise on the Caspian Sea Issues under the President of Turkmenistan. Experts from the five coastal states – the Republic of Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, Russian Federation and Turkmenistan – are participating in the meeting. The Protocol is one of three documents that should be prepared under the Agreement on Security Cooperation in the Caspian Sea, signed at the Third Summit of the Heads of State of the Caspian littoral states in Baku in November 2010. On instructions from the head of state Turkmen specialists drew up the draft Protocol in 2015. Three years later, the coastal nations’ leaders highlighted the need to finalize the document in the Communiqué of the Fifth Caspian Summit. The previous meetings on the Protocol were held in Ashgabat and Teheran. Experts from Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan will continue to negotiate the text of the said document during the fifth meeting. Tomorrow the authorized representatives will resume the work on the draft Protocol of Cooperation on the Safety of Maritime Navigation in the Caspian Sea.