The Baku summit of Caspian states, scheduled for November 18, will be the third meeting of the ‘Five Presidents’. The Heads of the Caspian states are expected to sign two documents: agreement on safety co-operation and a joint statement. Experts estimate that the agreement will provide the second foundation for a solid legal basis for interaction between the states in the region, helping them to establish ecological safety protocols. The first foundation is the Framework convention on environmental protection of the sea.
As for the legal status of the Caspian Sea, it has not yet been finalized. A working group of deputy foreign ministers gathered in Baku continues to discuss the project of the agreement and has already made considerable progress as compared to the results of the Teheran meeting (November, 9-10). On the threshold of the Baku summit, Moscow hosted roundtable talks, organized by the Institute of Caspian Cooperation and the media agency ‘Vestnik Kavkaza’. Experts from Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran and Azerbaijan took part in the discussion, but unfortunately Turkmenistan’s representatives refused to take part. According to the head of the Institute of Caspian Cooperation, Sergey Mikheyev, the new trend in world politics is decentralized inter-regional economic co-operation and Caspian states are facing the necessity of such a development. Mr Mikheyev added that Iran should take more decisive steps to promote Caspian partnership as it answers its own demands.
"All Caspian problems should be handled within the ‘Five’, or else the escalation of conflicts will be imposed on us by outside forces", the expert concluded. He cited the recent deterioration of Russian-Iranian relations, due to Moscow’s adoption of US sanctions against Teheran, as an example of such interference. As a solution to the problem, Mr Mikheyev suggested Caspian integration in the framework of the concept the creation of the Caspian Economic Cooperation Organization. He said that the project of a canal between the Black and Caspian Seas is a bright solution to the problem of economic integration of the region.
The chief editor of VK, Alexei Vlasov, supported the idea of the inadmissibility of foreign interference, calling on all Caspian states to be sincere in their relations. He added that the Caspian Economic Cooperation Organization could be the most suitable forum for Caspian dialogue. The deputy head of the Iranian mission in Moscow, Shodjiay Mohammed, supported with the idea of a Caspian Economic Co-operation Organization and stressed that it was the Iranian side that came up with the idea.
Experts from Kazakhstan have drawn attention to the existing problems that are hampering the project, such as Iran and Azerbaijan's principle disagreement on the Caspian issues. He also underlined the ecological problems. His Azerbaijani counterpart, however, said that ecological considerations will not stop the ‘Blue Stream’ pipeline construction.
The Azerbaijani expert also disagreed with the idea of the undesirability of international interference in Caspian affairs. However, he supported the idea of the Caspian Economic Cooperation Organization.
At the end of the roundtable talks the parties issued a joint statement promoting the idea of creating a Caspian Economic Cooperation Organization.
Evgeniy Krishtalev, exclusively to VK.
