Caspian Sea status to be discussed in Ashgabat

Turkmenistan has officially appealed the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan and other Caspian states with a proposal to hold the meeting. The question is now under consideration, Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Elkhan Polukhov said.

The main focus of discussions at the meeting will be to determine coordinates of median line of the Caspian Sea which will be determined between the Caspian littoral states upon national sectoral principles. Previous negotiations took place in 2008 in Baku.

The meeting will be held prior to the Summit of Heads of Caspian States, which, according to the press service of the President of Kazakhstan, is scheduled for September 13 in Aktau.

Five-sided talks on the level of deputy foreign ministers of five countries was scheduled for September 8-9 in Ashgabat, ambassador of Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan Elkhan Huseynov said earlier.

Delegation headed by the Special Representative of Azerbaijani  president on status of the Caspian Sea Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov will head for Turkmenistan to participate in the negotiations.

Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia have no claims to each other in terms of division of the Caspian Sea. They have both bilateral and trilateral agreements. The sides also agreed to determine the coordinates of median line. The issue was not agreed with only two countries - Turkmenistan and Iran - and therefore, despite many years of discussions, the status of the Caspian Sea has not yet been determined.

/Trend News/