The 45th meeting of the special working group of the Caspian Sea concluded in Moscow on Friday.
Deputy foreign ministers of the five Caspian littoral states —Iran, Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan— attended the 3-day meeting at Russia’s Foreign Ministry, Tasnim News Agency reported. The working group’s sessions were part of efforts to draft the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea.
Iran was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister for Asian and Pacific Affairs Ebrahim Rahimpour.
Meetings are held periodically in the capital cities of littoral states. Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, will host the next meeting in summer.
Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on earth by area, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea.
The Caspian Sea convention would determine the territorial rights of littoral states as well as other matters related to the sea.
The Caspian legal regime is based on two agreements signed between Iran and the former Soviet Union in 1921 and 1940. The three new littoral states, established after the collapse of the Soviet Union, have not recognized the previous treaties.
