Iran: Caspian status deal may be finalized next year
TEHRAN – The Iranian negotiator has said that if some countries show flexibility, work on the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea will be completed next year, ISNA news agency reported.
Presidential envoy on Caspian affairs Mohammad Mehdi Akhundzadeh was meeting journalists to brief them about the agenda of the forthcoming round of negotiations among five coastal nations.
Akhundzadeh said the meeting will be held in Moscow in a month and will focus on coordinating the legal status of the resource-rich basin.
He added that significant progress was reached at the last meeting, and the Moscow talks will expedite decision-making.
Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement in 2001 on dividing 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 other two coastal nations, Iran and Turkmenistan, did not sign the agreement. Iran wants all resources shared equally among five states, even though its coast accounts for less than 14 percent.
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