The Caspian states will soon reach an agreement on the sea’s status, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov said in Astana.
Kazakhstan is hosting the 30th session of the special working group for development of a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. The sides have reached agreements on many points, Trend reports.
Lack of such a convention is delaying the resolution of energy issues.
Bolat Akchulakov, CEO of KazMunayGaz (Kazakhstan), says that Kazakhstan would not decide on construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline until the status of the sea is determined. The project is abandoned at the moment, he told Alexey Vlasov, Editor-in-Chief of Vestnik Kavkaza and moderator of the plenary session “Economy of Kazakhstan, 20 years of achievements, a look into the future” at the sixth Forum of European and Asian Media (FEAM-2011) in Astana.
The Trans-Caspian pipeline is to connect Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. It is part of the Nabucco and Southern Gas Corridor projects. The EU opened official talks on construction of the pipeline with the two states. Russia and Iran speak out against the pipeline construction, insisting that it needs the approval of all five Caspian states.
The states signed a framework convention on protecting the Caspian's environment in November 2003.
Kazakhstan and Russia signed a deal on the delineation of the northern part of the Caspian Sea in July 1998 and a protocol to the document in May 2002.
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed similar documents on November 29, 2001, and February 27, 2003.
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on crossing of their sectors on May 14, 2003.
