Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, June 24 / Trend H.Hasanov /
The question of the legal status of the Caspian Sea is pending, OSCE chairman Kanat Saudabayev said at the international conference on disarmament in Central Asia and the Caspian Basin today.
"We should not forget about the pending Caspian Sea status," he said.
The Caspian Sea countries are Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran. The largest lake in the world has significant biological resources, as well as the world's oil and gas reserves. Moreover, the construction of a pipeline on the bottom of the reservoir, particularly the Trans-Caspian project could open up direct access to Europe to hydrocarbon potential of the Central Asia.
On dividing the bottom of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia have no claims on one another's. There are both bilateral and trilateral agreements between these countries on the issue. The parties have also agreed to determine the coordinates of the dividing line. The issue is yet to be agreed with just two countries - Turkmenistan and Iran - due to which the status of the Caspian Sea has not yet been defined, despite many years of discussions.
Saudabayev named the Central Asia and the Caspian Sea region as "the center of almost the most acute problems of today". These are rehabilitation of Afghanistan, Iran's nuclear program and the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, a key aspect of the settlement of which is disarmament issues."
"Drug trafficking, organized crime, terrorism and other issues also are linked to them," Saudabayev said noting the events in Kyrgyzstan, which, in his opinion, require effective measures to reduce stockpiles of weapons, prevent new attempts to build weapons and generally reduce the potential threats and tensions in the region. "
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