The 46th meeting of the special working group for drafting a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea at the level of deputy foreign ministers of the Caspian-littoral countries was held in Astana on July 11-12.
Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ibrahim Rahimpour, Ambassador-at-Large of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry Zulfiya Amanzholova, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry Igor Bratchikov and Chairman of the State Enterprise on the Caspian Sea Issues under the president of Turkmenistan Murat Atajanov attended the meeting.
The main theme of the meeting was working out of common approaches and formulations on uncoordinated provisions of the draft convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea and preparation for the meeting of foreign ministers of the Caspian-littoral countries.
According to the message, the next meeting of the special working group will be held in Iran on the date to be agreed through diplomatic channels.
The five Caspian states signed a Framework Convention for Protection of Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea in November 2003.
Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on delimitation of the northern part of the Caspian seabed 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 delimitation of the Caspian seabed and a protocol to it on November 29, 2001 and February 27, 2003, respectively.
Additionally, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on the delimitation of adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea on May 14, 2003.
The summits of the presidents of the Caspian-littoral countries were held in Ashgabat in 2002, in Tehran in 2007, in Baku in 2010 and in Astrakhan in 2014. (Trend/Business World Magazine)