Caspian Forum starts in Astrakhan

The Fourth Caspian Forum has started in the Southern Russian city of Astrakhan. The event is expected to be devoted to the settlement of the Caspian Sea's legal status.

Representatives of five countries are going to take part in the forum, they are Russia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Iran.

The attendees of the event are going to be addressed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Negotiations related to the demarcation of the Caspian Sea have been going on for nearly a decade among the states bordering the Caspian – Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran. The status of the Caspian Sea is the key problem. Access to mineral resources (oil and natural gas), access to fishing and access to international waters (through Russia's Volga river and the canals connecting it to the Black Sea and Baltic Sea) all depend upon the outcomes of negotiations. Access to the Volga River is particularly important for the landlocked states of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. This concerns Russia, because this potential traffic would utilise its inland waterways.

According to a treaty signed between Iran (Persia) and the Soviet Union, the Caspian Sea is technically a lake and was divided into two sectors (Persian and Soviet), but the resources (then mainly fish) were commonly shared.

Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have bilateral agreements with each other based on median lines. Because of their use by the three nations, median lines seem to be the most likely method of delineating territory in future agreements. However, Iran insists on a single, multilateral agreement between the five nations (as this is the only way for it to achieve a one-fifth share of the sea).