On July 12–13 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Astana to take part in a regular meeting of foreign ministers of the five Caspian states.

The participants focused on the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. Proceeding from the decisions of the Fourth Caspian Summit (Astrakhan, September 29, 2014), they mapped out a plan of preparations for the next meeting of the leaders of the five states in Kazakhstan. They issued relevant instructions to the five-way permanent special working group at the deputy foreign minister level.

During the meeting with Prime Minister Karim Massimov of Kazakhstan, the foreign ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan expressed confidence that the Fifth Caspian Summit will culminate in success, which will significantly boost cooperation among the Five.

Mr Lavrov also held talks with his Kazakh counterpart Erlan Idrisov. They discussed topical bilateral issues and cooperation in the United Nations, the OSCE and other multilateral formats.