Caspian States to Sign Five-Sided Convention

September 9, 2003 - 0:0
ASHKHABAD -- A framework convention for the protection of biological resources of the Caspian Sea will become the first five-sided document to be signed by the Caspian states, IRNA reported on Monday.

"The time will come when the five-way talks on the legal status of the Caspian Sea result in the adoption of the so-called Caspian Constitution," Viktor Kalyuzhnyi, Russian deputy foreign minister and Russian president's special envoy for the Caspian Sea, said in Ashkhabad on Monday.

Kalyuzhnyi is attending the 11th session of the special Working Group for drafting the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea that was opened by Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov on Monday.

Other participants in the meeting include the deputy foreign ministers of the five Caspian states.

"The framework convention for the protection of the Caspian Sea biological resources is slated to be signed in Tehran on November 4-5 this year. Representatives of the five Caspian governments are invited to attend," Mahdi Safari, the director general of the Iranian Foreign Ministry's CIS department and Iran's Special Envoy for the Caspian Sea, said in his speech.

The convention lays down the guidelines for the geographic reach and regulation of the anthropogenic influence on the Caspian Sea's biological resources as well as for the protection and reproduction of biological and marine resources.

The Convention's text is expected to go through the second hearing in Ashkhabad. Besides, a location for the seat of the provisional secretariat is going to be defined.

The body will be in charge of implementing the document's provisions.