The issue of the Caspian Sea's legal status is expected to be resolved
soon, chairman of the OSCE Kanat Saudabayev said at the international
conference on disarmament of Central Asian and Caspian states, Trend
reports.
There are 5 states on the coasts of the Caspian - Azerbaijan, Russia,
Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran. The world’s largest lake has
biological resources, oil and gas fields. Construction of the
Transcaspian pipeline project would give Europe access to the
hydrocarbonic potential of Central Asia.
The sides have agreed on the borders, only Turkmenistan and Iran have
not agreed on the issue yet. Saudabayev said that the region is a
concentration of some pressing issues, such as the rehabilitation of
Afghanistan, the Iranian nuclear program and the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.
He pointed out other problems: organized crime, drug trafficking,
terrorism. Saudabayev said that the events in Kyrgyzstan highlight the
urgent need to decrease the presence of weapons in the region.
