Baku hopes for progress at Caspian states' taskforce meeting in late April
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijan hopes for some progress on the Caspian legal status issue at the forthcoming Tehran meeting of the working group of the five littoral states, Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov told journalists on Friday.
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran will negotiate in Iran's capital after April 20 for the determination of the basin's legal status.
Negotiations on the legal status of the Caspian are conducted regularly, and the issue of holding the next summit of heads of states in Russia is currently on the agenda, Khalafov said.
"Preparations for the summit were discussed during the bilateral Azerbaijani-Russian negotiations on the status of the Caspian Sea in March. There are still a number of open issues in determining the status of the sea that require consolidation," he said.
During the March meeting the clauses of a draft convention on the legal status of the basin and cooperation in the Caspian Sea, including security as well as other issues of mutual interest, were discussed.
Numerous rounds of talks have been held in past years to define the status of the salt-water lake.
The undefined status causes many problems, the most significant of which is increased pollution. Oil production and refining has adversely affected the environmental condition of the sea.
In December, a protocol on the protection of Caspian Sea environment, which is a second such document signed after the adoption of the Tehran Convention, was adopted in Moscow. The protocol aims to ensure the implementation of the convention signed in the Iranian capital in 2003. The protocol aims to prevent, reduce, control and eliminate pollution to the greatest extent and support environmentally friendly Caspian marine environment.
The Framework Convention was the first legally binding regional agreement signed by all the five Caspian littoral states, laying out general requirements and an institutional mechanism for environmental protection in the resource-rich Caspian region.
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed agreements on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea on November 29, 2001 and February 27, 2003.
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on the delimitation of adjacent sectors of the Caspian on May 14, 2003.