A favorable background has been established for settlement of the Caspian issue

By Vestnik Kavkaza

The fifth summit of the Caspian countries, which took place this autumn in Astrakhan, was marked by signing a document on pentalateral cooperation. The principles of defining the legal status of the Caspian Sea, which were developed in Astrakhan, will be the basis of the convention that is going to be signed at the next summit. The main principle is that the Caspian countries will define all directions of cooperation in the region by themselves; first of all this concerns security – there will be no armed forces of third countries on the Caspian Sea.

Meetings of the five Caspian countries devoted to the legal status of the Caspian Sea hadn’t brought any results for years. And only today do experts say that the process is in the home straight.

Meanwhile, Gulnara Mamedzade, the Director General of News-Azerbaijan, the head of the Azerbaijani office of the Institute for Caspian Cooperation, told Vestnik Kavkaza that “settlement of the legal status of the Caspian Sea is an issue of a middle-term prospect at least. The process has been going on for a long time. And a certain basis is being developed. The Astrakhan summit established a basis for formation of certain conditions.”

Mamedzade thinks that the main result of the Astrakhan summit is reaching a consensus on the absence of third countries on the Caspian Sea: “It means that the negotiating agenda of the Caspian states gains more consensus. And it is important to analyze the current situation in the Caspian region and consider tendencies of bilateral relations.”

Mamedzade says that one of the tendencies is the accumulation of the potential for positive cooperation between Russia and Iran, and between Iran and Azerbaijan. “Azerbaijan is reducing tensions in relations with Turkmenistan and Iran as well. The last visit of the Azerbaijani President to Iran and the return visit by the President of Iran to Azerbaijan – such things form a favorable background to progress in the settlement of the Caspian issue. However, speaking about the legal component, it will take some time. The main thing is that the Caspian countries have gained time for discussion of many serious issues in the regional format,” the expert thinks.

According to her, third players are not interested in the formation of the Caspian region as a regional entity: “Usually, bilateral relations are built. Our countries try to conduct a dialogue on a consensual base. And I believe if we develop all schemes of joint cooperation at the political and economic level (there are many integration projects which connect countries of the region), it would be a good basis. But the issue is about the mid-term prospect.”