A meeting of the ad hoc working group, tasked to develop a convention on the Caspian Sea’s legal status, was held in Moscow on June 8-10, said the communiqué adopted following the event.
An Azerbaijani delegation led by the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov, as well as delegations from Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan participated in the meeting.
The heads of the delegations emphasized the special importance of the Moscow meeting in the light of the upcoming meeting of foreign ministers of Caspian Sea states in Kazakhstan and stressed the necessity of speedy completion of the work on the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, said the document.
The discussions were focused on the navigation regime and jurisdiction of the Caspian Sea littoral states, as well as delimitation of the seabed for the subsoil use and the agreed formulations were included in the draft convention, according to the communiqué.
The next meeting of the working group will be held in Kazakhstan and its date will be agreed through diplomatic channels, said the document.
The Caspian states – Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran – signed a Framework Convention for the 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 this agreement in May 2002.
Moreover, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed an agreement on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea and a protocol to it on Nov. 29, 2001, and Feb. 27, 2003, respectively. Additionally, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on the delimitation of adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea on May 14, 2003.