Turkmenistan hopeful Convention on Caspian Sea status to be signed soon

By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:

Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov expressed hope that the convention on the status of the Caspian Sea will be signed at the next summit of Caspian littoral states, which will be held in Kazakhstan, the Turkmen Dovlet Habarlary state news agency reported.

'The joint work on convention on the status of the Caspian Sea will be completed soon,' said Berdimuhamedov during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who arrived in Ashgabat for an official visit.

The latest meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group for the development of a Convention on the Caspian Sea's legal status was held at the level of deputy foreign ministers in Ashgabat on June 1-2.

During the meeting, delegations discussed the remaining provisions of the draft Convention that had not been agreed upon. As a result of the negotiations, a number of provisions of the draft Convention were agreed upon. The delegations positively assessed the outcome of the talks.

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.

The Caspian littoral states – Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran – signed the Framework Convention for Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea in November of 2003.

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