The 5th summit of the heads of the Caspian states was held in Kazakhstan's Aktau on August 12. Presidents of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Iran Hassan Rouhani and President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov discussed issues of the legal status of the Caspian Sea, cooperation in the Caspian in the sphere of economy, transport, ecology, security and others. The main outcome document of the summit was the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, work on which was conducted for more than 20 years. Nursultan Nazarbayev said that all issued related to the interaction in and around the Caspian Sea have been agreed, a historic decision will be made at the summit in Aktau.
Head of the Center for Eurasian Studies at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry Ali Mustafabeyli, called the signing of the convention a landmark event: "The work on the legal status of the Caspian Sea continued for 20 years. The work was not easy and extremely important for all the Caspian states. It was necessary to work out certain rules for cooperation in the Caspian - a very important space for Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia, Iran ... Sensitivity and deep understanding of each other helped to develop a unified position."
The head of the Sustainable Development Department at the Academy of Public Administration of Azerbaijan, Chingiz Ismailov, believes that the issues of delimitation, use of resources and the construction of oil and gas pipelines will be resolved in the interests of the Caspian countries after the convention is signed. "As for security, we should not limit ourselves to the Caspian littoral states. It should concern the security of all countries and the Caspian region, the Caucasus and Central Asia. There are countries that regard the Caspian as a possible military theater. But Azerbaijan's priority in the Caspian is economic interests, therefore, Azerbaijan considers security in the context of cooperation of all the Caspian countries. They are all confident, they all pursue an independent policy. Why is the issue of some non-Caspian countries even raised? No country is interested in fueling tension," Chingiz Ismailov said.
He focused on the need to address environmental problems: "We must make joint efforts in the use of biological, recreational, hydrocarbon resources."
"If the point on the possibility of laying underwater oil and gas pipelines appears in the documents, it will be in the interests of all countries. Even if the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, opposed by a number of the Caspian countries, is launched, in conditions of increasing U.S. sanctions towards Russia and Iran, it will give a new opportunity to connect Russia and Iran to the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline. It is a very interesting option of cooperating and solving economic problems. I think that all the Caspian states can take advantage of these opportunities," Chingiz Ismailov said.
