Azerbaijan, Russia hold consultations on Caspian issues

By Azernews

Azerbaijan and Russia held bilateral consultations on Caspian issues on April 28, the Foreign Ministry has reported.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov received a delegation led by the Russian Foreign Ministry ambassador-at-large, the Russian president's special representative for the delimitation and demarcation of the Russian state border with the CIS member states, Mikhail Petrakov, within the frameworks of the consultations.

The parties focused on issues related to the implementation of trilateral statements signed by Baku, Moscow and Yerevan, including cooperation on Caspian issues, as well as delimitation and opening of communications.

It should be noted that prior to the meeting, bilateral consultations were held between a delegation led by Petrakov and a delegation led by the Azerbaijani president's special representative for the border and the Caspian Sea issues, Khalaf Khalafov.

The sides exchanged views on the implementation of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, preparations for the next Caspian Summit, and draft agreements on sectoral cooperation between the Caspian littoral states, which are currently under negotiation.

The legal status of the Caspian Sea was finally established in 2018. The Caspian Sea littoral states adopted a convention on the Caspian Sea status at the Aktau summit in August 2018.  Due to the very rich resources in it (gas and oil), coastal states had problems reaching compromises. Despite signing the convention of 2018 it is not in force yet, due to the protracted process of ratification by Iran.