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Caspian Sea status convention to be adopted at next summit, Putin believes

Other News Materials 29 September 2014 18:02 (UTC +04:00)
Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that a convention on the Caspian Sea’s legal status will be adopted at the next summit of the Caspian littoral states
Caspian Sea status convention to be adopted at next summit, Putin believes

Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that a convention on the Caspian Sea's legal status will be adopted at the next summit of the Caspian littoral states (Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan), ITAR-TASS news agency reported Sept. 29.

Putin said that what is left is the finalization of development of a convention on the Caspian Sea's legal regime.

"I am convinced that we are able to agree on the provisions that have not yet been agreed on, and adopt a convention at the next summit," Putin said at the 4th Caspian Summit held in Astrakhan, Russia.

The next Caspian Summit will be held in Kazakhstan.

Putin said the Caspian littoral states' heads agreed on a political statement, which, for the first time ever, defines the main principles of a five-sided cooperation on the Caspian Sea.

"The reached agreements meet long-term interests of all parties. I am grateful to our partners for willingness and ability to find the necessary and acceptable compromises," Putin said.

Earlier, the Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said the mentioned statement is planned to reflect an agreement on delimitation of the water area.

He said two areas will be defined - the area of state sovereignty and the area with exclusive rights to fishing. The size of these two areas will be 25 nautical miles.

The issue of reference lines, which will serve to zoning, remains unresolved.

Iran, contradicting the rest of the Caspian countries, is offering to adopt the width formerly used as the Soviet-Iranian maritime boundary.

"It is very important that the draft statement includes a provision on preventing the presence of extra-regional countries' armed forces in the Caspian Sea," Ushakov had said.

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