Baku confirms progress in negotiations on the status of the Caspian Sea

Baku / 06.12.17 / Turan: The draft Framework Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea has been agreed by the coastal states, Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Khalaf Khalafov said this at today's press conference, commenting on the results of the talks of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan on December 5 in Moscow.

According to him, principled agreements on the division of the seabed into five parts have been achieved. The water surface will be divided into 15-mile sovereign zones and 10-mile fishing zones.

The communications of the coastal states will be open to the transit of the Caspian five.

At the same time, it is envisaged to ensure a "balanced military presence" of the Caspian states.

The construction of the trans-Caspian pipelines will be carried out by mutual agreement of the countries by the sectors that the pipelines will sink.

According to Khalafov, the framework convention is expected to be signed at the next summit of the heads of the Caspian states, which will be held in Kazakhstan in the first half of 2018. At the same time, Khalafov noted the absence of agreements on a number of controversial issues, in particular, belonging to some hydrocarbon fields.

"Negotiations on disputable deposits have so far been unsuccessful. The general position is that, until the delimitation is completed, these deposits will not be developed.

In the future, the issue of their exploitation will be solved on the basis of international law, "Khalafov said.

To date, there has not been a delimitation of the bottom between the sectors of Azerbaijan and Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. -03C06-