24 December 2008
AssA-Irada

Caspian littoral states - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Russia - have agreed about 60 per cent of the draft convention on the legal status of the basin, Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Nurlan Yermekbayev told the press Wednesday.

Yermekbayev noted, however, that the convention has not been adopted yet, as this requires a process of reaching consensus among the coastal nations’ governments and commissions.

Representatives of the five littoral states gathered in the Kazakh capital Astana on Tuesday for the 24th meeting of the joint taskforce on the determination of the Caspian status. Azerbaijan was represented at the meeting with a delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov.

The Kazakh deputy minister emphasized that the parties had positively assessed the talks held in Astana, saying discussions proceeded in the conditions of constructive dialog and mutual understanding.

Yermekbayev noted, however, that it was too early to talk about passing the convention. “A number of issues remain unresolved and we have to work on them.”

According to him, the sides have agreed to continue discussions on the wording of the convention at another meeting in Moscow that has yet to be scheduled.

The coastal nations agreed to develop a convention on the Caspian status at a summit held in Tehran in October 2007. The task was vested in the working group on the status determination, which was set up in the late 1990s. The status of the sea has been repeatedly discussed in the past years, however, the agreements reached so far concern only such issues as the environment, bio-resources and navigation, while the delimitation of the basin into sectors and security matters have yet to find their solution. These issues are currently being discussed on the level of presidents, as well as in bilateral and trilateral formats.

Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement in 2001 on delineation of the Caspian’s northern part into national sectors, with Azerbaijan and Russia possessing 19% each, while the Central Asian state – 29%. If the other two coastal nations - Iran and Turkmenistan – agreed to this principle, they would be granted 14% and 19% respectively. Ashgabat is not opposed to this division in principle, however, Tehran is seeking equal division to receive 20% of the sea-bed.