RUSSIA, KAZAKHSTAN AND AZERBAIJAN CASPIAN AGREEMENT
MOSCOW, 16 May (IPS) The Islamic Republic suffered a severe set back on its Caspian Sea policy on Friday Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan agreed officially to divide the Caspian Sea’s bed resources.
According to the Kazakh Foreign Ministry, the document was signed on 14 May
14 in Alma-Ata immediately after special representatives of the five littoral
states, namely Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran, meeting in
the former Kazakh Capital of Almaty, failed to reach any agreement over a legal
status dividing the energy-rich Caspian.
Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Abuseitov, Azerbaijan Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov and Russian presidential special representative on the Caspian status settlement, Deputy Foreign Minister Viktor Kalyuzhny, signed the agreement.
Iran, backed by Turkmenistan, insists that the Sea’s bed be divided equally between all the five nations on the basis of 20 per cent each. But Moscow, Baku and Astana, rejecting the proposal, have already defined their own boundaries according to internationally agreed median line, which give Iran some 13 per cent of the Caspian bed, against 31 per cent to Kazakhstan, 19 to Azerbaijan and Russia and 18 per cent to Turkmenistan.
Both Tehran and Doshabneh, which have agreed to cooperate in exploring oil and natural gas reserves in the southern sector of the Sea, have rejected as "void of legality" the agreements already signed by Moscow with its two Azeri and Kazakh neighbours.
The Caspian Sea is believed to hold the world's third-largest oil and natural gas reserves and a general consensus of territorial issue is seen as vital for the development and export of the region’s natural resources.
After signing the accord, Russian, Azeri and Kazakh officials expressed the hope that the document would serve as an example for the two other coastal states to also join the club, but Iran insist that until a general consensus has reached between all parties, the legal status of the Caspian should be those signed between Iran and the former Soviet Union.
Iranian continued set backs has angered the Majles (parliament), with reformist deputies criticising the Foreign Affairs Ministry for its mishandling of the issue.
Oil experts also say the reason Iran insists on an 20 per cent each sharing is because it extends the Iranian share of the coasts to parts, now within Azerbaijan’s territory, where oil is abundant.
Two years ago, Iran and Azerbaijan reached the brink of war after Iran sent gunboats and warplanes to the Caspian to stop Azerbaijan exploring in parts of the Sea Iran claims sovereignty. ENDS CASPIAN AGREEMENT 16503