The Deputy Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan have agreed on a draft of the final political document ahead of the Caspian Sea status summit which is scheduled to be held in Kazakhstan, reports “Kommersant”, with reference to “RIA Novosti”.
“From 21-24 May, at the session of the working group to design the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, the sides agreed on the preliminary agenda and a draft of the final political document of the forthcoming summit, and discussed the progress of work to agree drafts of the five-party documents and their preparation for signing within the framework of the fifth Caspian summit along with the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea”,— Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said.
The parties also agreed the following documents: the agreement on transport and trade and economic cooperation between the governments of the Caspian states, the agreement on incidents prevention in the Caspian Sea, the cooperation protocol in combating terrorism and organized crime as well as the protocol on security collaboration of border patrol agencies.
“The parties welcomed the proposal to hold an extraordinary session of the Conference bringing together members of the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea and the adoption and signing of the environment impact protocol in the trans-border context to the aforementioned Convention.
The next session of the Special Working Commission will be held in Kazakhstan with its time frame being agreed upon through diplomatic channels”, — Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said.
Referring to Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov, TASS reports that “the meeting bringing together experts and ambassadors-at-large and special representatives is scheduled to be held shortly in Ashgabat.
This will be followed by the Council of Foreign Ministers of Caspian States in Ashgabat.Then, after the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea is completed, a specific timeframe for the Caspian summit in Astana will be determined”.