Kazakhstan seeks to expand cooperation with Iran in Caspian Sea
By Gunay Hasanova
The Kazakh Ministry for Investment and Development plans to sign a deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran in the field of maritime merchant shipping in the Caspian Sea in 2016, RIA Novosti reported referring to the official website of Prime Minister Karim Massimov.
The report reads that domestic procedures on the harmonization of the draft agreement with Iran are completed and it is planned to transfer the contract to the Iranian side.
The agreement will form a single legal framework for the development of maritime transport between the ports of Kazakhstan and Iran.
“The volume of turnover between Kazakhstan and Iran on the sea routes is about two million tons” says the Ministry.
Kazakhstan has similar cooperation agreements in the field of merchant shipping with littoral states - Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Russia.
The Caspian Sea, the largest inland body of water in the world, is significant for geographical position. The countries surrounding it, the resources within the sea and its strategic location in the middle of the Eurasian continent are the main factors that give the sea its true geopolitical importance.
The Caspian Sea plays an important role in the transport
corridors, along with being an important part of the international
and regional projects.
However, determining the legal status of the Caspian Sea has become
one of the problematic issues among the five littoral states -
Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan since demise
of the Soviet Union.
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