Baku, Azerbaijan, April 8
By Temkin Jafarov - Trend:
Tehran hopes that the major part of the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea will be agreed on and will be ready for signing before the next summit of the heads of Caspian Sea countries in Astrakhan.
"This issue depends on the discussions between the states. We hope that the parties will manage to agree upon the major part of the document on the legal status of the Caspian Sea before the summit and it will be ready for signing," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs and Special Envoy on Caspian Affairs, Ebrahim Rahimpour told Trend on April 8.
The viewpoints of the countries on this issue are different and it is natural, according to the deputy foreign minister.
"The position and interests of the Caspian Sea countries on this issue differ and therefore, the negotiations have been underway for nearly 18 years. We also want to settle this issue in coming days and hope that all countries will also strive for this," Rahimpour said.
It is planned to hold a meeting of foreign ministers of the Caspian Sea countries, namely, Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan and heads of states in Moscow and in Astrakhan in coming days.
The Islamic republic intends to actively cooperate with the other four countries during these meetings, as the issue related to the legal status of the Caspian Sea is not an issue of bilateral or trilateral relations, according to Iran's special envoy. Rahimpour pointed out that some part of the documents in the legal status of the Caspian Sea has already been agreed on.
The Caspian Sea countries still have disagreements on some issues and in particular it is related to determination of borders in the sea; all five parties haven't still reached an agreement on this issue, according to the diplomat. Currently, experts are working on getting a fair result which would meet the interests of all the parties, Iranian deputy foreign minister said.
The Caspian Sea littoral 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. They signed a protocol to this agreement in May 2002. Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed agreements on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea and related protocol 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.
Translated by L.Z.
Edited by C.N.