Russia expects Caspian states to launch debate on sturgeon protection accord in December
ASTANA. Nov 22 (Interfax) - Moscow hopes that the Caspian littoral states will start to debate a Russian-proposed draft agreement to preserve the Caspian Sea's sturgeon population in December 2011.
"The Russian side was asked to draw up a draft agreement to preserve the Caspian Sea's sturgeon stocks. Russia has done so and has presented the draft document to its partners. Regrettably, we were not able to call a special meeting of all five Caspian littoral states in Astrakhan to discuss it," Alexander Golovin, Russia's special envoy for the delimitation and demarcation of the state border with adjoining CIS states, said at a session of the group in charge of drafting a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea in Astana on Tuesday.
The Russian Federal Fisheries Agency tried to set a date for such a meeting twice, he said.
"The first time was in July, but our colleagues could not come. The second time was in September, but only Azerbaijan's delegation arrived at this meeting," Golovin said.
"We very much hope that at an upcoming session of the commission for the Caspian Sea's hydro-biological resources in Baku in December, the delegations will find an opportunity to start to debate the draft agreement, thus laying the groundwork for implementing decisions adopted at the Baku summit of the Caspian littoral states," he said.