Bilateral Consultations Held on Caspian Sea Status in Moscow

Yesterday the Russian Foreign Ministry held bilateral consultations between Azerbaijan and Russia on the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Azerbaijan was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov and Russia - Russian president's special envoy, Ambassador at Large Igor Bratchikov.

The parties discussed the provisions of the draft convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, an important point to the outcome of the protocol adopted at the summit of the Caspian littoral states in Baku in November 2010, and exchanged views on the upcoming summit.

Khalafov also met with State Secretary - Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin. The sides discussed issues of bilateral relations between the two countries in the international arena.

In reviewing the implementation of the decisions of the Third Caspian Summit in Baku in 2010, highlighted the need for an early convening of the next meeting of the Special Working Group on the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea at the level of deputy foreign ministers of the Caspian states in Ashgabat.

The status of the Caspian Sea was regulated by the agreements of 1921 and 1940 between the Soviet Union and Iran. After the collapse of the Soviet Union negotiations started to establish a new legal status, which continue to this day, causing a number of standard bilateral agreements. Thus, Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in the early 2000s agreed on a demarcation line between the adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea.

In turn, Iran has offered to divide the sea into equal parts (each side 20%), and Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan filed claims on the deposit Kapaz.

As a result, the prolonged negotiations have failed. At the same time, the coastal states signed sector agreements on environmental protection and security in the Caspian. -06D-