Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 12
Trend:
Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have not yet reached a full understanding on the Kapaz field, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov told reporters in Baku Dec. 12.
Bilateral talks and consultations on this issue are being held regularly, according to him.
“However a full understanding has not been achieved yet,” Khalafov said.
According to an agreement reached between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan in 2008, no exploration or oil extraction can be carried out in the areas of seabed intersection of the Azerbaijani and Turkmen sectors of the Caspian Sea until the issues related to delimitation of the Caspian seabed are agreed upon.
The five Caspian states – Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran – signed a Framework Convention for Protection of Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea in November 2003.
Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on delimitation of the northern part of the Caspian seabed in order to exercise sovereign rights for subsoil use in July 1998. The two countries signed a protocol to the agreement in May 2002.
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed an agreement on delimitation of the Caspian seabed and a protocol to it on Nov. 29, 2001 and Feb. 27, 2003, respectively.
Summits of the presidents of the Caspian countries were held in Ashgabat in 2002, in Tehran in 2007, in Baku in 2010 and in Astrakhan in 2014.
The next summit is planned to be held in Astana in 2017. Kazakhstan proposes adoption of a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea as the goal of the event.