Azerbaijan, Baku / Тrend corr E. Huseynov, A. Ismaylova / Determination of the legal status of the Caspian Sea will be the focus of the regular meeting of foreign ministers of Caspian countries to be held on 20 June in Tehran, the Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister, Khalaf Khalafov reported on 4 June.
After the collapse of the USSR, five Caspian countries ( Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Iran) have been holding negotiations to determine the status of the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan, Russia and Azerbaijan do not have disagreements in connection to this. They have signed both bilateral and trilateral agreements in regards to this. The countries have also agreed upon the determination of the lane lines. However, an agreement has not been reached with Turkmenistan and Iran.
The Tehran meeting will be attended by the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, Elmar Mammadyarov. Deputy foreign ministers who preside the working group on demarcation of the Caspian sea will also be in attendance.
The last and 21st meeting of the working group was held in Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan on 23-24 April. The Convention on Determination of the status of the Caspian Sea was discussed. The holding of the second Caspian summit in Tehran was among the issues under discussion. The first summit was held in Ashkhabad in 2002.
"In accordance to our methodology based on international norms, the Iranian sector comprises 20.4% of the sea", special representative on the Caspian Sea of the Iranian President, Mehdi Safari, has repeatedly stated to journalists. Iran's Caspian neighbours consider it expedient to keep the part of the Iranian Caspian sector that existed whilst the USSR (14% of the sea) the same.
" Iran has to recognize the fact that the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan each have some 19% of the sea and Kazakhstan 29%. Four Caspian countries have already agreed upon the lane lines and it is too late to resolve the issue in accordance with Iran's proposal. Moreover, as a result, Iran's neighbours will lose a part of their sectors," Russian Special Representative on the Caspian Sea, Victor Kalujny, reported.