Next Caspian summit date not defined yet

The dates of the next summit of the Caspian littoral states to be held in Teheran have not been defined yet. Khalaf Khalafov, deputy foreign minister of Azerbaijan, has stated this at a press conference, KZ-today correspondent reports from Baku.

According to Kh. Khalafov, the dates of this summit depend on the heads of Caspian littoral states and on a solution of the problems that remain open by the special working group. "The summit has not been declined by any of the states. It is accepted as an idea, but the main task is to create bases for this summit, that is certain problems must be resolved," - he has explained. In particular, the deputy minister has observed, there are still disagreements in positions of the sides on the division of the Caspian Sea bottom, the security of the littoral states, the presence of military vessels on the Caspian, and other issues that must be resolved altogether in a bundle.

Commenting on results of the 15th session of the special working group for the convention on legal status of the Caspian Sea that took place October 26-27 in Moscow, Kh. Khalafov has observed that the legal status issues were not resolved at that meeting. A consensus was reached mainly on the environment and fish resources. The agreed points were reflected in the convention on legal status of the Caspian Sea. "Agreements on protection of biological resources, on commercial navigation, and on environment were reached", - Kh. Khalafov has added. Besides, the deputy minister has said that the convention now also reflects criteria of the responsibility for the environment, as well as mechanisms of protection and use for the biological resources of the Caspian and an agreement on principles of co-operation on the Caspian was reached.

According to Kh. Khalafov, Azerbaijan will continue bilateral consultations with Iran and Turkmenistan on the status of the Caspian. The next round of Azerbaijani-Iranian negotiations on this issue will take place this November in Baku and the Azerbaijani-Turkmenian negotiations will be held in the beginning of 2005.