EU offers help to Caspian littoral states

The European Union is ready to offer expertise, advanced equipment, experience and high technology to the Caspian littoral states, head of the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan Aurelia Bouchez said at the Second International Oil and Gas Conference Caspian Offshore Development, which is underway in Astana with the support of the KAZENERGY Association.

"The EU supports the efforts of all parties in the development of high standards of safety in exploitation of natural resources, ecology, as well as social development," Bouchez said.

She underscored that the EU is interested in diversifying export routes for oil transportation which will allow increasing the energy security of the EU countries.

"At the same time the EU does not intend to intervene in the decision on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, considering it as an internal affair of the Caspian littoral states," she said.

The littoral states (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran) signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea in November 2003.

In July 1998, Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on the delimitation of the northern part of the Caspian Sea in order to exercise sovereign rights for subsoil use.

On Nov. 29, 2001 and Feb. 27, 2003, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed an agreement on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on the delimitation of adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea on May 14, 2003.


/Trend/