The opening session however was marred, as the Iranian President Mohammad Khatami had to leave the conference on what informed sources said was on "health, not political considerations", the Persian service of Radio France Internationale reported Tuesday night.

Asked if Mr. Khatami, who was scheduled to tour five Central Asian nations after the Summit would go ahead with his planned trips, the source said it depends of the diagnostics.

The long awaited Summit opened with the Turkmenbashi (the father of the Turkmen) calling on all participants to do their best in overcoming differences concerning the situation of the Caspian, believed to hold world’s third reserves in gas and oil.

But most of the experts present at the conference said they expect the Summit to end with a mutual "agreement to disagree", as the Islamic Republic would insist on the equal sharing of the Sea’s resources among the bordering nations while the others have already defined their borders according to international agreements of median line.

In his opening statement, President Saparmyrat Niyazov warned that the uncertainties that surrounds the status of the Caspian increases the "appetite" of unwelcome nations and increases the instability in the region, halting economic developments of the littoral states.

President Khatami of Iran agreed and called on his counterparts from Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to bar interference in the region’s affairs of foreign powers by defining the legal status of the Sea, actually the largest lake in the world.

Referring to the increasing American military presence in the region, the embattled Iranian President said littoral states of the Caspian should do their best keeping this strategic region outside of foreign interferences.

"Tehran does not look with favour on the pursuit of national interests at the expense of the national interests of other countries", Mr Khatami had observed at a dinner banquet tendered by his Turkmen counterpart Monday night.

Mr. Niyazov immediately welcomed the Russian proposal and while criticising Azerbaijan's "negative attitude" called on his Azeri counterpart Heydar Aliyev for bilateral talks and invited "others to do the same", a reference to Tehran-Baku disputes.

While Eshqabad is in dispute with Azerbaijan over portions of the Caspian’s bed, Iran and Azerbaijan are at loggerhead over oilfields that both sides claim sovereignty.

Mr. Khatami in general and the Foreign Affairs Ministry in particular are under virulent attacks and criticism from the reformists for poor performances concerning the Caspian, as some lawmakers and pro-conservative newspapers asked the government to explain why it has backed off from fifty per cent of the Sea’s waters by sticking to 20 per cent only.

But experts say if the Caspian were divided according to internationally accepted agreements, Iran’s share would be less than 13 per cent against 19 to Azerbaijan and Russia, 15 to Turkmenistan and a hefty 34 per cent to Kazakhstan.

"One of the major reasons why the Islamic Republic’s diplomacy has so lamentably failed everywhere, from the Middle East and Palestine to Bosnia and Afghanistan is because the ruling clerics do not allow scholars and non government experts have their words", observed one political analyst asking not to be identified.

"But Iran should not, under any circumstances, go one step back from its earlier stance", the paper urged. CASPIAN SUMMIT 23402