Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

The Convention on the status of the Caspian Sea will be signed this year, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on March 15.

“With a high degree of certainty, I can announce that the convention will be signed at the 5th summit, which will be held in Kazakhstan this year,” the FM said, RIA Novosti repoted.

Lavrov noted that at the meeting in Moscow this December, the foreign ministers of the Caspian states – Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Azerbaijan – finished harmonizing all articles of the convention.

“Now the verification of the texts in the language of each participating country is carried out,” the minister added.

Lavrov also expressed confidence that the convention will be signed, noting that there are no obstacles to this.

The issue of determining the legal status of the Caspian Sea became relevant after the collapse of the USSR, when the emergence of new subjects of international law - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan - raised the issue of delimitation of the Caspian Sea between the five littoral countries.

The difficulties in determining the status of the Caspian Sea were linked, in particular, with the recognition of it as a lake or sea, the delineation of which is regulated by different provisions of international law.

The leaders of the five countries met for the first time in 2002 in Ashgabat. The second Caspian summit was held in Tehran in 2007, the third one in Baku in 2010, and the fourth summit – in Astrakhan in 2014.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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