Iran hopes for determination of Caspian status in March 2012

Iran hopes that the convention on the status of the Caspian Sea will
be determined in March 2012, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported
after a meeting of the Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Sergey Ryabkov, with the Iranian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
for legal and international affairs, Muhammad Akhundzade.

The Iranian deputy minister believes that the agreements between the
two countries signed in 1940 and 1921 and respect of the justice
principle should be the guides for the Caspian states, 1news.az
reports.

The leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Iran
confirmed the plans to develop a convention for the legal status of
the Caspian at a summit in Baku on November 18, 2010. The convention
will determine the rights of the Caspian states to the resources of
the sea.