Kazakhstan, Astana, April 6 / Trend D. Mukhtarov /
There are a lot of issues which need improvement on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Ministry Khalaf Khalafov believes.
"I think that this process will continue in 2013, as there are still many fundamental questions that need improvement," Khalafov who is participating in the meeting of CIS Foreign Ministers Council in Astana told Trend.
He said that currently a working group to define the legal status of the Caspian Sea continues its hard work on every point of the future document.
"According to my projections, another meeting will be in May 2012, presumably in Ashgabat. As for other formats, both bilateral and multilateral, they work, and, in principle, all countries have shown interest in the speedy harmonization of the remaining issues," Khalafov said.
The littoral states (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran) signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea in November 2003.
In July 1998, 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.
On Nov. 29, 2001 and Feb. 27, 2003, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed an agreement on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on the delimitation of adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea on May 14, 2003.