MEETING ON CASPIAN SEA LEGAL STATUS WRAPPED UP IN ASTANA

Baku, 25 December,(AzerTAj)The 24th meeting of the Caspian states' working groups on delimitation of the Caspian Sea wrapped up in Astana, AzerTAc reports from the capital of Kazakhstan. During the two-day meeting focus was given to the draft Convention of the Caspian Sea legal status.
Statesmen from all the five Caspian littoral states – Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran have been involved in discussions. Deputy Foreign minister of Azerbaijan Khalaf Khalafov led Azerbaijani delegation. As Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Marat Tazhin said, “Hopes are high that talks on Caspian will be extended, and we’ll make progress in solving the problems of the Caspian Sea
legal status”.
“It is not a secret that Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia have signed bilateral and tripartite agreements on Caspian status and they might be used as a foundation for Caspian Sea Convention. We are still carrying on negotiations with Iran and Turkmenistan on that issue”, Khalaf Khalafov reportedly said.
The Convention must cover several important items to determine division of the Caspian seabed, environmental security, protection, increase and efficient usage of biological resources of the Caspian Sea, transportation of hydrocarbons, sea fishing and other issues, according to Khalaf Khalafov.
The 25th session of the special working group on development of the Convention on Legal Status of the Caspian Sea will take place in Moscow.
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