Foreign Minister: Azerbaijan develops draft agreement given approach of Caspian countries - PHOTOS

Azerbaijan has developed a draft agreement given the approach of the Caspian countries and presented it to the delegations of those countries at the 23rd meeting of the Caspian countries' deputy foreign ministers' meting held in Baku, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said.

"The convergence of the Caspian countries' positions on key points in the process of agreeing on a draft convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea has created the basis for the next Caspian States' Summit to be held in Baku," the minister said at a meeting on harmonization of the draft agreement on cooperation through the customs border services and departments of the interior agencies in the field of security in the Caspian Sea held in Baku.

The Caspian countries' second summit held in Tehran in 2007 identified specific areas for future work to finalize and adopt the draft convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, Mammadyarov said.

"At the summit, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that from the perspective of further development of the region, an understanding and agreement on ways of defining the legal status of the Caspian Sea will promote mutual trust, peace and security in the Caspian region and pawe a way for closer cooperation," he added.

All the Caspian littoral states should intensify their efforts to ensure holding of the successful Summit in Baku, he said.

"The draft agreement defines fight against terrorism and organized crime, illicit trafficking of weapons, nuclear cargo, drugs and psychotropic substances, illegal migration, human trafficking and other spheres as a co-operation. Information sharing, joint action and exchange of experience are the main forms of realizing the cooperation. Moreover, the draft agreement provides for the organization of meetings and consultations between the competent authorities at least once a year," he added.

"The meetings organized in the past have contributed to the process of negotiations on the final status of the Caspian Sea," the minister said.

"However, the recent Baku meeting of deputy foreign ministers demonstrated that many important elements still remain open."

Mammadyarov said the important questions on the Caspian Sea status such as use of the water surface, completing delimitation of the seabed, fishing, boating and safety issues - the demilitarization of the movement of warships and so on, have not yet been agreed.

"It is hoped that a convergence will form a basis for a decision on delimitation of the water surface, which is one of the important issues," he added.

"Azerbaijan is confident that improvment in investment climate, development of energy resources and establishment of peace and stability in the region would meet interests of the region. The pipelines Baku-Supsa, Baku-Novorossiysk and Baku Tbilisi-Ceyhan, as well as the implementation of projects on the Baku - Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline and construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway serve economic development and prosperity of the region and strengthening global energy security," the minister said.

According to the minister, if the sides agree on the draft project provided by Azerbaijan, then preparations for the Third Caspian States' Summit in Baku may be launched.

"Azerbaijan has always been a supporter of activities of the Caspian littoral states on the basis of the principles of respect sovereignty of states' equality, non-use of force and threat of force. Azerbaijan is convinced that the establishing the Caspian Sea equal security conditions will create fully peaceful conditions to use the sea and turn it into a zone of good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation ", he added.

The minister noted that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to developing bilateral and multilateral cooperation on the basis of universally recognized principles and norms of international law in a fight against terrorism and organized crime, illicit drugs and weapons.

Azerbaijan considers that the subject of the draft agreement at this meeting should address issues of cooperation of border and customs authorities, the ministries of interior, emergency situations and transport, and maritime administration, Mammadyarov noted.

Military-political aspects of security in the Caspian Sea should be discussed and resolved within the framework of the draft convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, he said.

"We hope that the two-day meeting will develop a final document based on the current draft and in the future it will act as the legal framework for cooperation between littoral countries in the field of security," he added.

In November 2003, the Caspian countries signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea.

In July 1998, Russia and Kazakhstan signed the agreement on the delimitation of the northern part of the Caspian Sea to exercise sovereign rights for subsoil use and in May 2002 - Protocol to the Agreement.

Nov.29, 2001 and Feb.27, 2003 Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed agreement on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea and the Protocol thereto, respectively.

Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed agreement on the junction point of the delimitation of adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea May 14, 2003.


/Trend News/

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