Baku, Azerbaijan, March 5
By Seba Aghayeva - Trend:
The issues related to laying pipelines and cables under the Caspian Sea are still on the agenda and the discussions on these issues will continue, Ambassador-at-Large of Russian Foreign Minister Igor Bratchikov said on Mar.5.
He made the remarks at the press conference following the meeting of the working group on determining the legal status of the Caspian Sea at the level of deputy foreign ministers of the Caspian Sea countries.
The meeting was held on Mar.4-5 in Baku with participation of representatives of the littoral states.
Speaking about the draft convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, Bratchikov said that it has a separate point on laying pipelines. He said that discussions were held and continue on this point and there are different approaches to this issue.
Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov, for his part, expressed confidence that this issue will also be resolved in the future based on the goodwill positions of all the littoral states.
Furthermore, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Rahimpour said that there are broad opportunities for cooperation of the five littoral states on the Caspian Sea.
"We hope that the work on the convention will be completed successfully and all the issues will be agreed," he said.
Rahimpour added that the environmental issues should be priority for all Caspian Sea countries.
It should be noted that in recent years, together with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, the EU have considered the possibility of constructing the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline.
Baku and Ashgabat believe that the implementation of this project is the sovereign right of the two countries, since the pipeline will run through their territorial waters.
Nevertheless, Russia and Iran believe that this issue can be considered only after determining the legal status of the Caspian Sea.
To date, the littoral states have signed numerous agreements on the Caspian Sea.
The Caspian Sea states 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.
Edited by SI
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