Russian FM: Quite real to sign convention on Caspian Sea in 2017
By Amina Nazarli
Kazakhstan’s capital Astana will hold Summit of leaders of the Caspian Five in 2017, said Erlan Idrissov, Kazakh Foreign Minister on July 13.
“We have confirmed today at political level that there is a common attitude and understanding for the signing of the Convention in Astana at a summit of heads of state next year,” Idrissov said.
The Kazakh foreign minister also noted that the working group on the Caspian Sea will meet this September and October in Tehran and Ashgabat, accordingly.
Idrissov further pointed that there are still some outstanding issues in the work on the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea that require additional meeting of the Caspian "five".
He said that in the course of ongoing consultations in Astana [the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Caspian- littoral countries], the sides were focused on the coordination of the Convention.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking at the press conference in Astana, said that it is quite real to sign the convention on the Caspian Sea in H1 2017.
“We have carried out very fruitful work,” said Lavrov. “We have moved forward in a number of directions.”
As for the remaining issues, the Russian foreign minister stressed, that, it is necessary to find proper formulations for the principles agreed by the presidents.
Determining the legal status of the Caspian Sea has become one of the problematic issues among the five littoral states since demise of the Soviet Union.
The legal status have been remained unsolved during the past two decades, preventing development and exploitation of its disputable oil and gas fields and creating obstacles to the realization of major energy projects.
The Caspian states signed the Framework Convention for Protection of Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea in November 2003.
Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on the delimitation of the northern part of the Caspian Sea in order to exercise sovereign rights for subsoil use in July 1998. The two countries signed a protocol to the agreement in May 2002.
Moreover, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed an agreement on the
delimitation of the Caspian Sea and a protocol to it in 2001, and
2003, respectively.
Additionally, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement
on the delimitation of adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea in
2003.
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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
Twitter: @amina_nazarli
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