The Aktau Summit signed the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea

13.08.2018

In Kazakhstan's Aktau on August 12, a historic event took place - the leaders of the Caspian countries agreed on how to divide the largest on the planet sea that does not have access to the World Ocean.

Key Points

The work connected with the signing of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea was conducted over 20 years. However, in the five-sided format, States have not been able to agree on this issue for a long time. During many years of negotiations, at the moments when the parties approached the signing of the document as close as possible, new contradictions arose. The signing at the Aktau summit of the draft Convention agreed at the meeting of foreign ministers of the Caspian states on December 4-5, 2017 in Moscow is designed to put an end to the contradictions and solve the problem of the legal status of the Caspian.

As a result of the Caspian Summit, several sectoral documents on cooperation in the region were also signed. In particular, in the sphere of security, the parties signed the Protocol on Cooperation in the Field of Combating Terrorism,

Protocol on Cooperation in the Field of Combating Organized Crime, and the Agreement on the Prevention of Incidents in the Caspian Sea. In the economic sphere, an agreement was signed between the governments of the Caspian states on trade and economic cooperation and an agreement on cooperation in the field of transport.

In addition, the parties signed the Protocol on cooperation and interaction of border agencies.

The essence of the convention

The exact boundaries have yet to be consolidated. But it was much more important to agree on the use of the water area and the bottom in a way that suited everyone. In the end, just the option that from the very beginning offered Russia: the water is common, we only divide the bottom. Shipping, fishing, scientific research, laying of main pipelines - all this is possible by agreement of the parties. Another crucial point: no armed forces of other countries.

"The Convention is a kind of Constitution of the Caspian Sea, it is designed to resolve the whole complex of issues related to the rights and obligations of the riparian countries, and also to become a guarantor of the security, stability and prosperity of the region as a whole," explains Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

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