Iran’s Zarif to Attend Caspian Sea Meeting in Astana

Iran’s Zarif to Attend Caspian Sea Meeting in Astana

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif started his trip to Kazakhstan on Tuesday with aim of participating in a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Caspian Sea littoral states.

Accompanied by a high-ranking delegation, including legal and political experts, Zarif plans to participate in the meeting of foreign ministers of Caspian littoral states – Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Russia – in Astana and hold talks on the legal status of the lake.

Two days ago, a special working group from Iran arrived in Astana to participate in the expert-level talks held before the ministerial meeting.

The working group’s sessions were part of efforts to draft the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

The 45th meeting of the special working group of the Caspian Sea concluded in Russia’s capital of Moscow earlier on June 10 with a communiqué.

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed water body on earth by area, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea.

The Caspian Sea Convention will determine the territorial rights of littoral states as well as other matters related to the world’s largest landlocked body of water.

The Caspian Sea legal regime is based on two agreements signed between Iran and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1921 and 1940. The three new littoral states, established after the collapse of the Soviet Union, have not recognized the prior treaties, triggering a debate on the future status of the sea.