Details added (first version posted on 13:31)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 20
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend:
The fundamental principles of defining the Caspian Sea's legal status, developed at the Caspian summit in Astrakhan, will be a basis for a convention, to be signed at the next summit of Caspian states, Russia24 TV channel quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying Oct. 20.
"The declaration will now be used to saturate the convention with specific agreements, and articles. And the main approved principle is that the Caspian countries will themselves define all cooperation areas in the region," Lavrov said.
He said this primarily applies to security, as there will be no armed forces of another countries in the Caspian Sea.
Lavrov said the Caspian countries agreed upon a very important issue on the width of state zones, including the zone the sovereignty and fishing zones.
"This is one of the key issues that must be reflected in the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea," the minister said.
Lavrov said there are still several unresolved issues, including the thorny issue of construction of trans-Caspian pipelines.
"We believe that the Caspian states should take decision on this issue together," he said.
The minister also underscored the need to ensure the environmental safety of the sea.
Russian city of Astrakhan hosted the 4th Caspian Summit in late September.
It was attended by the heads of all the Caspian littoral states - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.
The summit participants inked several important agreements on the joint use of the Caspian Sea.