Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11
Trend:
Azerbaijan and Russia have a common opinion that the Convention on the status of the Caspian Sea, which is expected to be adopted by the Caspian littoral states, should ensure the sovereign rights of each of the littoral states and meet their interests.
This was stated during the Azerbaijan-Russia political consultations on legal status of the Caspian Sea, held in Moscow on Apr. 10, the Azerbaijani embassy in Russia told Trend.
The consultations were held under the chairmanship of Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov and special envoy of the Russian president, Ambassador-at-large Igor Bratchikov.
The sides exchanged views on implementation of agreements reached during the Baku meeting of the Special Working Group of the Caspian littoral states (Feb. 25-26) and continued discussions on open issues.
The importance of reaching agreements on open issues before the upcoming meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Caspian littoral states was noted during the consultations.
The Caspian littoral states – Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran – signed a Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea in November 2003. Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on the delimitation of the northern part of the Caspian Sea in order to exercise sovereign rights for subsoil use in July 1998. The two countries signed a protocol to the agreement in May 2002.
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed an agreement on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea and a protocol to it on Nov. 29, 2001 and Feb. 27, 2003, respectively. Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on the delimitation of adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea on May 14, 2003.