Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 23
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani is scheduled to visit Russia on Sep. 29 to attend the upcoming summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states, the country's Mehr news agency reported on Aug. 23.
The fourth summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states will be held in the Russian city of Astrakhan in September 2014.
The issue of the Caspian Sea's legal regime has gained importance following the breakup of the USSR and the emergence of newly independent states.
In the past 20 years the littoral states (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran) have been negotiating on a legal regime for the Caspian Sea without any results.
The Caspian Sea littoral states signed a Framework Convention for the Protection of Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea in November 2003.
In July 1998, 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 May 2002 they signed a protocol to this agreement. On Nov. 29, 2001 and Feb. 27, 2003, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed agreements on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea.
Additionally, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on the delimitation of adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea on May 14, 2003.