The summit of the heads of the Caspian countries will be held in Aktau (the administrative center of Mangistau region of Kazakhstan, on the Caspian sea coast) on August 12, Kommersant reported.
It is expected that the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian sea will be signed during the summit in Aktau. Representatives of Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran have been working on this document for more than 20 years. According to the Deputy foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Grigory Karasin, the Convention ” will not solve all the emerging issues, but it will create the necessary framework for agreements between the Caspian States.” The signing of the document should, in particular, simplify the resolution of disputes about the ownership of oil and gas deposits, the possibility of laying pipelines on the bottom.
It should be noted that August 12 is perhaps the most symbolic date for the anniversary of the Caspian summit. This day is celebrated in all countries of the Caspian region. The celebration is timed to the memorable date of entry into force of the framework Convention for the protection of the marine environment of the Caspian sea, the so-called Tehran Convention. This is the first document on multilateral cooperation in the Caspian sea, which was signed by all coastal States. The Convention was developed under the auspices of the United Nations programme for the environment, was signed on 4 November 2003, the representatives of the governments of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, November 8, 2003, they were joined by Turkmenistan.
It took almost three years for all States to ratify the Convention and it entered into force on 12 August 2006. The Tehran Convention contributes to the consolidation of the efforts of the Caspian countries in the protection of the environment of the Caspian sea and the rational use of its resources, thus meeting the national interests of all the Caspian States.
Thus, if the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian sea is signed on August 12, then this date will definitely become important and symbolic as the day when the coastal countries were able to find a solution to the two most important problems of further sustainable development of the Caspian region.
