Kazakhstan expects Iran, Russia to ratify Caspian Sea Convention by yearend
NUR-SULTAN. April 16 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan is expecting Iran and Russia to ratify the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea by the end of 2019, Kazakh Foreign Minister Beibut Atamkulov said on Tuesday.
"Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan have ratified the treaty [the Convention]. We are hopeful that Iran and Russia will finalize relevant domestic procedures by the yearend," Atamkulov said at the second meeting of the Caspian Sea Working Group in Nur-Sultan on Tuesday.
"We believe that domestic procedures, which are necessary for enforcing the documents signed at the summit [in Aktau in 2018] and earlier, must be expedited," Atamkulov said.
In his words, Kazakhstan has completed ratification of six out of seven documents signed in Aktau, and the seventh document is being considered by the Senate.
"About ten drafts of five-party agreements on a broad range of cooperation issues and activity in the Caspian Sea, which require thorough legal regulation, are at various stages of readiness. Kazakhstan is finalizing the elaboration of agreements on confidence-building measures in military activity and the Secretariat of the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea," he said.
The Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea was signed at the summit of littoral nations (Kazakhstan, Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan) in Aktau on August 12, 2018.