Home | China | World | Business International Conference on Caspian Status Opens in Moscow WED, FEB 27, 2002     An international conference on Caspian status finally opened in Moscow on Tuesday after several delays. The participants will discuss about legal status of the Caspian Sea, its environmental monitoring and protection, mineral development and navigation. Delegations of Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and the United States are taking part in the conference. "The Caspian region is a foreign political priority" of Russia,Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said at the opening ceremony.He called for broader cooperation among the five Caspian nations and their interaction with states outside the Caspian region. It is impossible to have regional peace and stability without defining the legal status of the Caspian Sea, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Viktor Kalyuzhny told reporters. Moscow proposes joint uses of Caspian resources in the so-called "disputed areas" on the basis of condominium. Some disputes may be settled on the bilateral basis, he said, while outlining Russia's idea of a center for environmental monitoring in the Caspian Sea. The center, as he put it, should unite representatives of all the five Caspian states. Russia favors the soonest definition of the Caspian status, Kalyuzhny said. "Such agreements can be reached only on consensus between the five Caspian nations, which enjoy exclusive rights to resources of the Sea," he said. Russia offers a new principle of sharing the seabed and keeping the waters in common use, Kalyuzhny stated. An agreement on the status of the Caspian Sea "must not put obstacles to exports of oil and natural gas from this region," said Stanley Mann, special adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State for Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy. He is taking part in the international conference in Moscow Iran thinks that the condominium formula is the best for the Caspian problem, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, special envoy for the Caspian Sea Mehdi Safari said at the conference. Iran stands for the definition of the Caspian status with due account of the interests of five countries and the need to protect the regional environment, the diplomat said. In case of the Caspian division, Iran will have the sovereign right to 20 percent of the waters, he remarked. He said Caspian countries should abstain from unilateral steps before they reach accords. The countries bordering the Caspian Sea add up to five from two after the Soviet Union's collapse. How to share the Caspian resources has become a big problem among these states over the last decade. Editor:Liu Hongji Source:Xinhua Recommend to your friend email:    China Central Television,All Rights Reserved