Azerbaijan, Baku, 18 November / Trend / Legal status of the Caspian Sea is being discussed at the meeting of the working group of the Azerbaijani and Iranian Foreign Ministries in Tehran on 18 November, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Iran Abbasali Hasanov told Trend in a telephone conversation from Tehran.
Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov represents Azerbaijan at the meeting.
"I am convinced the meeting will give an impetus to determination of the status of the Caspian Sea," said Hasanov.
After collapse of the USSR, delimitation of the Caspian Sea has been a subject of disputes regarding division of the Caspian shelf resources - oil and gas, as well as biological resources. Caspian littoral countries have been negotiating the status of the Sea for a long period - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia want the Caspian sea bed divided along a modified mid-line. Iran and Turkmenistan meanwhile, wants the seabed divided equally among the five. In 2003, Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on partial delimitation of the Caspian Sea along a mid-line.
According to Hasanov, bilateral issues between Iran and Azerbaijan will be discussed during Khalafov's visit.
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