(L-R) Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Kazakhtan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov pose after the signing ceremony at the 5th Caspian Summit in Aktau on August 12, 2018. (Sputnik/AFP)

BAKU, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- The signing of the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea will expand prospects for the development of transit cargo transportation, Azerbaijani expert told local media on Monday.

Akif Mustafayev, national secretary of the Inter-governmental Commission TRACECA in Azerbaijan, said that the agreement will open new prospects for the development of logistics and expansion of cooperation in this area between the Caspian states.

"The interaction between the Caspian states has always been at a high level," Mustafayev said.

The convention will allow the implementation of a number of promising projects that could not be implemented previously. It will also enhance security in the region, and improve the ecological status of the Caspian Sea, he said.

The heads of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan inked the landmark convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea at the Fifth Caspian Summit in the Kazakh city of Aktau on Sunday after over two decades of negotiations.