Baku, Azerbaijan, June 10
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran will host the 37the Caspian Sea Legal Regime regional confab on June 11-12.
Representatives from the littoral states including Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan will discuss the latest developments and issues related to the Caspian Sea legal regime in Iran's northern Ramsar city, Iran's IRNA news agency reported on June 10.
The Caspian Sea Convention will determine the territorial rights of littoral states as well as other matters related to the world's largest landlocked body of water.
The 36th Caspian Sea Legal Regime confab held in Turkmenistan's capital city of Ashgabat early in April.
The issue of the Caspian Sea's legal regime has gained importance following the breakup of the USSR and the emergence of newly independent states. In the past 20 years the littoral states have been negotiating on a legal regime for the Caspian Sea without any results.
The Caspian Sea littoral states signed a Framework Convention for the Protection of 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.
In May 2002 they signed a protocol to this agreement. On Nov. 29, 2001 and Feb. 27, 2003, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed agreements on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea.
Additionally, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on the delimitation of adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea on May 14, 2003.