What are the arrangements of the Caspian summit?

According to Russian media reports, at the summit in Astrakhan, the leaders of the five littoral countries took important decisions.

So, the official media mentioned the joint document of 19 points, five presidents adopted, which states that Caspian Five does not want to see the troops of other countries within the Caspian waters.

"The right to stay in the Caspian Sea exclusively belongs to the coastal countries. Such a regime has existed here historically, and we are not going to change it," said the Russian President Vladimir Putin after the summit.

"On the whole, all the issues in the region are going to be settled exclusively in the circle of the" five ", which has sovereign rights in the Caspian Sea and its resources," said Putin.

According to ITAR-TASS, the leaders of the five countries agreed to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence and sovereign equality of the states, non-use of force or threat of force, mutual respect, cooperation and non-interference in the internal affairs of each other.

The signed document also states that the Caspian Sea should be used "for peaceful purposes" and its waters should be turned into "a zone of peace, good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation." The Parties have agreed to resolve all issues related to the Caspian Sea by peaceful means.

The memorandum establishes a "national sovereignty of each side of the coastal sea space within 15 nautical miles and the exclusive rights of each party to the production of aquatic biological resources within the adjacent 10 nautical miles, followed by a common body of water."

The parties also reaffirmed their readiness to comply with the "agreed confidence-building measures in the field of military activities in the spirit of predictability and transparency in accordance with the common effort to strengthen regional security and stability."

Among other things, the signed document anticipates "delimitation of the seabed and subsoil of the Caspian Sea on the basis of universally recognized principles and norms of international law in order to implement the sovereign rights of the parties on the use of mineral resources and other legitimate economic and business activities."

"I fully join my colleagues who believe this summit was a breakthrough, - Putin said. - It is true, we have agreed on the principles of cooperation, to address key issues of interaction in the Caspian Sea and to set them in the appropriate statement. It's really a breakthrough."

According to the President, the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea may soon be signed. "I will not say that all questions are fully resolved, but the number of them has become much smaller. Experts are tasked to intensify consultations on several remaining issues  and there is every reason to believe that in the near future, we will sign the convention," said Putin.

At the Caspian summit in Astrakhan, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed to create the "Caspian free trade zone" by the littoral states.

The opinions of official Baku, as well as Turkmenistan and Iran have not yet been made ​​public. -02D-