Azernews.Az

BAKU – Key points of an agreement on security cooperation in the Caspian Sea were agreed in conclusion of the two-day meeting among the five coastal nations’ officials held in Baku this week, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov said Thursday.

"We have reached a general consensus on all main issues of the draft agreement," he told a news briefing.

Khalafov expressed hope that the document will be submitted to the summit of the Caspian littoral states’ presidents due in Baku on November 18.

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

According to Khalafov, the Baku meeting of the deputy foreign ministers also discussed a draft resolution of the Caspian states’ leaders. The document will be mulled by the deputy ministers on November 9-10 in Iran and on November 15-16 by the taskforces in the Azerbaijani capital.

The resolution covers regional cooperation, efforts to ensure stability in the region and joint activities on the worldwide scale, Khalafov said.

"We intend to coordinate the joint resolution of the Caspian states’ leaders, as it includes coordinating the convention on the legal status [of the basin]," he added.

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.