Azerbaijan to invite Iran to negotiations on Caspian status: deputy minister

A date of the meeting is still being coordinated, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov said, while commenting on the media's reports about Iran's beginning to explore the Azerbaijani block of the Araz-Alov-Sharg fields.

Khalafov said the Nationwide Leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev and Iran's Supreme Religious Leader Ayatollah Khomeini had reached an agreement on the development of perspective Araz-Alov-Sharg fields, under which the parties do not begin exploring this perspective units before resolving the issue on legal status of the Caspian.

"Afterwards, these agreements were repeatedly confirmed by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad," Khalafov said.

Khalafov said that the negotiation process to divide the Caspian Sea between Iran and Azerbaijan takes a systematic character.

/Trend Capital/