Baku, Azerbaijan, June 12
By - Temkin Jafarov - Trend:
The heads of Caspian littoral states will not be able to come to a full agreement on the legal status of the sea during the fourth summit in Astrakhan, but the situation is not hopeless in this regard.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs and Special Envoy on Caspian Affairs, Ebrahim Rahimpour made the remarks, the Iranian "Mehr" news agency reported.
The 37th meeting of the ad hoc working group on the legal status of the Caspian Sea at the level of deputy foreign ministers of the Caspian states is underway in the Iran`s Ramsar city on June 11-12.
Rahimpour noted that discussions between the five states on the determination of the legal status of the Caspian Sea will be carried out by taking into account the interests of all parties and the agreement that will satisfy all parties is being developed.
The pace of the discussion is not so high, according to the deputy minister, but he expressed hope that certain legal results will be achieved at the summit of the head of the states.
He noted that some 100 articles have been prepared on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, all the parties came to an agreement on some of them, but agreement has not been reached on some yet. The principles of separation of surface and bottom of the sea, fishing and definition of territorial waters can be identified among uncoordinated issues, Rahimpour said.
The deputy minister believes that it requires a lot of time for a complete determination of the legal status of the Caspian Sea, as each side seeks to protect the interests of both the state and the people.
Rahimpur noted that the last meeting was very important, as discussions were held in connection with the preparation of the final declaration of the summit of the heads of states and good results have been achieved. The final declaration will be fully agreed and signed at the next meeting in Moscow.
The security, military and economic issues have been discussed at the meeting of the ad hoc working group, he said. It was decided that the issues such as marine ecology and emergencies at sea will be discussed in separate meetings. One of them will be held in Ashgabat, the other - in Moscow.
The summit of the heads of the Caspian states is planned to be held in September in Astrakhan.
Edited by CN