Caspian countries agree on principles for security cooperation in Caspian Sea

The five Caspian countries have agreed on basic principles for security cooperation in the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov said on Friday, Trend reports.

"We managed to reach agreement on all the basic principles of security cooperation in the Caspian Sea and during the third meeting, the holding of which we will be working on over the next month or two, we are going to determine the list of structures that will be involved in this cooperation," Khalafov said at a briefing after the 23rd meeting of deputy foreign ministers of the Caspian countries, held March 11-12 in Baku.

"The Caspian countries are ready to cooperate in the field of security," Khalafov said. After several meetings, we will be able to come to a complete agreement and proceed to realization of these works, the deputy minister said. The most important thing is to create a cooperation mechanism so that ongoing work on security can proceed according to a specific system, Khalafov said.

At the Baku meeting were discussed the harmonization of the draft of agreement on cooperation between the customs and border services and interior ministries in the field of providing security in the Caspian.

At the second summit of Caspian heads of state in Tehran in 2007 specific areas for future work were identified for final adjustment and adoption of the draft convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. The Caspian states in November 2003 signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea.

In July 1998, Russia and Kazakhstan concluded an agreement on the delimitation of the northern part of the Caspian Sea for the exercise of sovereign rights for subsoil use, and in May 2002 a protocol to the agreement.

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed agreements on November 29, 2001, and February 27, 2003, on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea bed and the respective protocol.

Also, between Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia on 14 May, 2003, an agreement was signed on the junction point of the delimitation of adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea. The Caspian is also abutted by Turkmenistan and Iran.