Caspian Sea

Caspian sea

(a) Trade volumes passing through the region by land and sea (over the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean) were increasing

ECU 800,000 Caspian Sea traffic, and ports

The change in the geopolitical situation has brought about a new relationship between interests in the Caspian region and has made it essential to devise new approaches to determining the status of the Caspian Sea.

State Programme for Developing the Kazakhstan Sector of the Caspian Sea

Appealing to the Caspian States to conclude rapidly, by common accord, a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea,

4. To initiate the creation of a mechanism of consultations with respect to implementing projects on energy resources transportation, including those of the Caspian Sea region.

In this connection, the Azerbaijani side s view is based on the need to respect the sovereign rights of all the littoral States of the Caspian Sea it considers that the Iranian side s unilateral and illegal actions undermine the positive trends which have marked the process of determining the legal status of the Caspian Sea and may have adverse effects on strengthening the spirit of cooperation and trust in the Caspian Sea region.

Those instruments contain no provisions whatsoever relating to the delimitation of the Caspian Sea.

In 1993, Turkmenistan adopted an Act on State Frontiers, establishing that State's internal waters and territorial sea in the Caspian Sea.

They also underlined the need for the peaceful use and demilitarization of the Caspian Sea.

Considering the special and unique character of the Caspian Sea, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the five coastal States of the Caspian Sea agreed in their meeting on 12 November 1996 in Ashgabat, that the complementation of the legal regime of the Caspian Sea, following the dismemberment of the USSR, can only occur through the unanimous decision of the five coastal States,

Through GRID Geneva, UNEP maintains cooperation with regional intergovernmental bodies concerned with the Baltic Sea, the Danube Basin, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Mediterranean and the Aral Sea.

The traditional activities of Azerbaijan and other littoral States in the Caspian Sea are based on established practice and the precedents in their use of the Caspian Sea, and on the rules of international law in this respect.

The Russian Federation does not recognize any unilateral territorial or jurisdictional claim of other coastal States over a part of the Caspian Sea until these negotiations have been completed and the new legal status of the Caspian Sea is agreed.

The Caspian region accounts for 2 to 3 of the world s known oil resources about equal to that of North Sea oil. While far smaller than the deposits in Saudi Arabia or Iran, Caspian oil could prove important if oil production falls or is reduced for political reasons elsewhere.

Questions connected with the freedom of navigation and overflight, the laying and utilization of underwater cables, pipelines and other uses of the Caspian Sea, shall be regulated by separate bilateral and multilateral agreements between the Caspian States after the conclusion, and on the basis, of a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

2. The two sides reiterated that the Caspian Sea and its resources are the common heritage of the littoral States and that the completion of the legal regime and the resolution of issues on the exploitation of the resources of the Caspian Sea is exclusively the right of these five littoral States while adopting the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

Taking into account that the existing legal regime of the Caspian Sea does not meet present day requirements and does not fully regulate the mutual relations of the Caspian States,

55 The case studies are the Dnipro River Basin, Caspian Sea, South China Sea, Lake Tanganyika, Benguela Current and Bermejo River strategic action programmes.

4. Also welcomes the adoption of the Baku Declaration on energy cooperation in the region of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization by the Ministers of Energy of the States members of the Organization on 19 September 2003 and the Joint Declaration by the Ministers of Transport from countries of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea region on 3 October 2003

Therefore, as long as the legal regime of the Caspian Sea is not complemented with the agreement of all coastal States, the existing legal regime established by the above mentioned instruments remains binding and any attempt to divide the Caspian Sea is unacceptable.

8. Considering the unique environment of the Caspian Sea and for the purpose of its protection, which is the responsibility of all littoral States, the two sides objected to any action that may cause irreparable damage to the environment of the Caspian Sea.

On 25 May 2005, a US 3.6 billion pipeline linking the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean was inaugurated.

The Parties shall protect and conserve the ecological system of the Caspian Sea and all the components thereof.

The Parties will take all possible steps to promote the conservation of the unique ecological system of the Caspian basin and to have all the Caspian States sign an agreement on the conservation, reproduction and rational use of the biological resources of the Caspian Sea.

The Parties shall prohibit any activity that is likely seriously to damage the natural environment of the Caspian Sea.

10. The Parties will promote in every way possible the development of trade and economic cooperation between the countries of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea regions

Links will also be developed with the ongoing and future Global Environment Facility (GEF) regional projects under the international waters component, relating to the Danube River (pollution reduction and environmental management), the Black Sea (strategic action plan and environmental management), the Dnieper River Basin (strategic action programme), and the Caspian Sea (Caspian Sea Environment Programme).

They also examined the progress achieved towards the completion of Caspian Sea legal regime consistent with the Declaration of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Caspian Littoral States in November 1996 in Ashgabat.

In accordance with the principles and rules of international law, the sovereign rights of the littoral States of the Caspian Sea extend to the corresponding national sectors which have been established as a result of the traditional activities of the littoral States in the Caspian Sea.

Azerbaijan regards as inadmissible the conclusion of an agreement between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Shell and Lasmo oil companies on geological and geophysical prospecting in an area of the Caspian Sea which also includes part of the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

Westernize the Black Sea Region

Article 13 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea, 2003, Environmental emergencies

Kazakhstan on the Delimitation of the Seabed of the Northern Part of the Caspian Sea for the Purposes of Exercising Their

Accepting that the delimitation of the seabed of the Caspian Sea under this Agreement does not extend to its biological resources,

Bearing in mind the bilateral agreements that have been reached on questions relating to the legal status of the Caspian Sea,

The extent of national zones and the procedures for common use of the Caspian Sea will be subject to supplementary agreements.

9. Underlining the essential need for cooperation among the littoral States in all matters relating to the Caspian Sea with the aim of expanding this friendly cooperation, the two sides called upon all littoral States to employ their utmost efforts for the earliest completion of the Caspian Sea legal regime.

Mindful of the importance of the existing protected areas for the conservation and renewal of the biological resources of the Caspian Sea,

The current uncertainty on this matter hinders the rational utilization by the littoral countries of the vast resources of the Caspian Sea.

Huge armies of the berserk little creatures reached the Caspian Sea, swam across the Volga, and inundated the European part of Russia.

9. The Presidents agreed to take steps that in the future would bring closer the countries of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Region and of the Caspian Basin and that would enable the deepening of mutual understanding and, on that basis, confidence and mutual respect among the peoples of the region.

Desiring to bring about favourable conditions for the realization of their sovereign rights in the Caspian Sea, and also, in a spirit of mutual understanding and cooperation, to regulate matters connected with the effective utilization of the mineral resources of the seabed of the northern part of the Caspian Sea and the subsoil thereof,