Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian called on his colleagues from the Caspian countries to step up work on defining baselines in the Caspian Sea for further delineation of internal waters.
“The convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, signed in Kazakhstan, defines the rights, duties and general framework of cooperation between the five coastal countries in four maritime regions in the Caspian Sea, and the application of sovereignty, sovereign rights and exclusive and collective jurisdiction in these regions requires the definition of a baseline as the basis for determining the exact boundaries of internal waters, territorial waters, fishing areas and common watershed in the Caspian Sea”, Amirabdollahian stressed at a meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Caspian littoral states in Moscow on 5 December.
“Although six rounds of meetings and negotiations (…) have been held so far to negotiate and finalize an agreement on the method of determining baselines in the Caspian Sea, we must acknowledge that the process of negotiations to finalize this document continues slowly and unsatisfactorily”, he added.
The Iranian Foreign Minister expressed hope that the seventh meeting of the High-level Working Group, which will be held in Baku, will bring fruitful results.
The Moscow ministerial led to adoption a statement, which summarizes the proposals voiced by each country from the Caspian five (Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan).
The statement notes that to advance the finalization of the draft Agreement on the methodology for establishing direct baselines in the Caspian Sea, the High-level Working Group on Caspian Sea Issues has been tasked with intensifying the frequency of its meetings, aiming for at least quarterly convenings throughout 2024. ///nCa, 6 December 2023