Sporadic efforts to draw up Caspian Sea’s legal regime continued

The 22^nd special working group meeting was held on April 15th, attended by the representatives of Caspian Sea’s five littoral states. They gathered to discuss the legal state of the Caspian Sea and compilation of a legal regime for this sea, which is of high economic and political importance for all these states.

 

It seems that despite the regular meetings of the workgroup, the five countries have not reached to the point of consensus in compiling the legal regime of the sea. The problem roots in the difference they have on their share of the sea and the nature of their ties with Russia.

 

Up to the Caspian Sea Summit held last year in Tehran, the grounds weren’t prepared for biannual meetings of the countries’ foreign ministers. This shows that the littoral states have yet not paid serious attention to compilation of a legal regime for the world’s biggest lake.

 

Despite all these problems Iran tries to take steps towards more coordinated approaches between Caspian-neighboring states. Hence, in every summit and meeting Iran tries to depict a promising image of the countries’ cooperation on compilation of the legal regime of Caspian Sea.

 

Therefore, during the opening session of the 22^nd special working group meeting, Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian foreign minister, expressed his satisfaction with the air of the negotiations that has facilitated achievement of legal regime. According to Mottaki, the achieved agreements during the recent years have been fruit of the will of littoral states in adopting a collective solution for this sea and mutual regional cooperation.

 

Speaking to the representatives of 5 littoral states, Mottaki stated that: “the legal regime of the Caspian Sea must be compiled such that it reflects and satisfies the expectations and demands of people. Paying heed to long-term collective interests, trying to maintain the security and stability of the sea in areas such as environmental diversity, and trying to turn the Caspian Sea into a scene for economic prosperity and regional convergence could be the guidelines. The legal regime must be formulated in a way that littoral states do not suffer a loss and enjoy the economic profits of the sea in a fair manner. It is only through this way that a sustained stability and security will be formed in this sea.”

 

According to AP, about the workgroup meeting, Khalaf Ali Khalafov, the Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister, stated that Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan have reached agreements and signed treaties about the legal regime of Caspian Sea. These agreements delimit the seabed based on the median line and Azerbaijan is negotiating Iran and Turkmenistan on partitioning based on the median line.

 

But Iran must recognize that as an influential country in the regional developments and as a member of Caspian Sea littoral states, in its stances on the Caspian Sea legal regime, it must emphasize cooperation for rational compilation of the regime and avoid remarks on its share, since this will provide a ground for competition between countries for a larger share. At a time when extra-regional powers are meddling in affairs of this sea, attaining an acceptable agreement and a shared agenda in exploitation of the sea surface and bed seems necessary and this can be the framework within which the security of this sea could be established.

 

However, we saw that the Iranian Foreign Minister, responding to the criticisms about Iran’s weakness in asserting its definite share of the sea during Caspian Sea Summit, stated that Iran’s real share of the sea has never been more than 11.3%.

 

According to Mottaki, Kazakhstan takes a 24% share of the sea and Russia, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan each have a share of less than 20%. Here the question is, taking Iran’s 11.3% share into account, what happens 5% remainder that is not designated to any country?

 

Now we have to wait for the achievements of the 22^nd special working group meeting in Tehran. In addition to discussing the draft convention of Caspian Sea legal regime, other issues such as the economic conference of littoral states next summer in Russia, peace and security in the Caspian Sea, the upcoming meeting of foreign ministers and finally the presidents’ summit in Baku were discussed.

 

The Iranian delegation in this 2-day summit was headed by Mahdi Safari, Deputy Foreign Minister and Iran’s representative in Caspian Sea affairs. Khalaf Ali Khalavov, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexander Golovin, Russia’s special envoy on Caspian Sea affairs, Nurella Namikbayev, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Foreign Minister, and Khoshgaldi Babayov, Turkmenistan’s Deputy Foreign Minister led the delegations of other littoral states.