Iran rejects reports over Caspian Sea boundaries

Therefore, Iran has had no revision on its stances regarding delineating the sea, he told reporters on Friday while elaborating on results of the foreign ministerial meeting of Caspian Sea littoral states in Moscow on December 6.

Negotiations on delineation of the Caspian Sea fall outside the talks on conventions which is not expected to deliver anytime soon and it is not possible to include all details in the convention, he said, noting that issues on delineation will be followed through separate agreements and protocols.

Caspian Sea legal regime is a framework convention which like other conventions deals with basic principles, outlines of rights and obligations of the countries in various fields, he said, 'it is not possible to include all details in such conventions.'

Caspian Sea legal regime enshrines general topics such as objectives, principles of cooperation, governing rules and authorities, protection of the environment, monopoly of navigation only under flag of littoral states, prohibition of military presence of non-littoral states, transportation, rights of access to free waters, transit, non-discrimination approach towards flagged vessels, protection and optimal use of live water reserves, energy, maritime research, mechanism of cooperation and other issues, the spokesman said.

During the Moscow summit, a document was neither signed nor initialized but it was agreed to undertake certain legal moves after internal coordination and holding several expert sessions to be attended by representatives of the five littoral states, he added.

The final version of the Caspian Sea legal regime convention will be discussed in the upcoming summit of presidents of the littoral states, whose date is yet to be specified, Qasemi said.

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