Azerbaijan to propose new dates of conducting working group's meeting

Azerbaijan will propose new dates of holding the meetings of the working group of the Caspian countries to determine the status of the sea, Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov told media.

"After the Baku summit of Caspian littoral states, we could not hold meetings of working groups, because we failed to agree the date of these meetings with the other Caspian littoral states," he said.

"Last time the Azerbaijani side proposed new dates for the meeting, by pointing to late April, but littoral states failed coordinate it again."

The Baku Summit of Caspian Sea littoral states was held in Baku on November 18, 2010.

The next summit will be held in Russia in 2011. The Russian side must organize the appropriate meetings before it, Khalafov said.

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 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/