Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The 48th meeting of the special working group for drafting a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea at the level of deputy foreign ministers of the Caspian littoral states ended in Baku on January 26.

The meeting participants discussed and agreed on provisions on determination of the sovereignty, jurisdiction, security, territorial waters and fishing zones, methodology for definition of the main lines, division of the sea bottom and earth's interior, passing of ship through territorial waters, as well as laying cables and pipelines.

The event, attended by delegations from Azerbaijan led by Khalaf Khalafov, Iran led by Ebrahim Rahimpour, Kazakhstan led by Zulfiya Amanjolova, Russia led by Igor Bratchikov and Turkmenistan led by Murad Atajanov adopted a communiqué.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Khalaf Khalafov, addressed the event emphasizing that the main agreements achieved by the heads of states and foreign ministers of the Caspian states paved the way for the substantial convergence of positions and tangible results.

He noted that holding next summit on the completion of agreements on all main principles of the draft convention must serve the purpose of laying comprehensive legal foundation for the future mutual activity and cooperation of the Caspian states.

Results of the 48th Baku meeting of the special working group are satisfactory, Khalafov told Azertac.

“Agreement was reached on principal points on the legal status of the Caspian Sea,” he said.

The deputy foreign minister noted that the event decided to hold meetings of the working group and foreign ministers in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

He expressed a hope that the meeting of foreign ministers will yield tangible results.

“The 4th summit of the heads of state of the Caspian littoral states is expected to be held in Astana,” Khalafov added.

The Caspian littoral states signed a Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea in November 2003. Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on the delimitation of the northern part of the Caspian Sea in order to exercise sovereign rights for subsoil use in July 1998. The two countries signed a protocol to the agreement in May 2002.

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed an agreement on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea and a protocol to it in 2001 and in 2003, respectively.

Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on the delimitation of adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea in 2003. Summits of heads of the Caspian states were held in 2002 in Ashgabat, in 2007 in Tehran, in 2010 in Baku and in 2014 in Astrakhan.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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