Azernews.Az

BAKU – Coordinating the draft agreement on security cooperation in the Caspian Sea could create a solid basis for ensuring security in the littoral states, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov said as the five coastal nations’ officials gathered in Baku for a meeting on Wednesday.

Though the security agreement has been under discussion for several years, the littoral states have not yet managed to hammer out their differences. Iran and Russia oppose entry of outside countries to the Caspian region. Moreover, the coastal nations face discrepancies on issues of maintaining fleet.

Deputy Foreign Minister Khalafov said the two-day meeting of the joint taskforce is attended by the delegations of Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Russia. He said the talks underway in Baku are the fourth meeting of the working group, and it chiefly aims to submit an agreed draft agreement to the summit of the Caspian littoral states’ presidents due in Baku on November 18.

Khalafov added that a number of issues pertaining to the deal have already been agreed during the meetings held thus far.

He expressed hope that the Baku meeting of the Caspian states’ deputy foreign ministers would be constructive and open and proceed in the spirit of high-level confidence and cooperation. "We hope to be able to put this document on discussion at the summit of the Caspian states’ leaders."

The draft agreement covers joint efforts in fighting terror, organized crime, drug trafficking, illegal migration, trafficking in humans, smuggling and illegal arms sales.

The Caspian states have been facing differences on the status of the basin for nearly a decade. Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement in 2001 on the delineation of the Caspian’s northern area into national sectors, with Azerbaijan and Russia each possessing 19 percent, while the Central Asian state received 29 percent. However, the issue remains to be agreed with Iran, which supports equal division of the basin and claims rights to the offshore Alov field. Azerbaijan also faces a long-standing dispute with Turkmenistan over the Kapaz (Sardar) field in the Caspian.