Caspian Sea nations sign historic agreement

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Europe

00:24

Five Caspian Sea states signed an agreement on Sunday for collective use of the sea after over two decades of negotiations.

Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan announced they had reached a consensus on how to divide up the potentially huge oil and gas resources of the world’s biggest enclosed body of water, paving way for more energy exploration and pipeline projects.

The presidents of the five nations inked the landmark convention on the legal status of the sea at the Fifth Caspian Summit in the Kazakh city of Aktau.

Speaking after the signing on Sunday, all five leaders praised it as a historic event.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the document "fixes the exclusive right and responsibility of our states for the fate of the Caspian Sea and establishes clear rules for its collective use."

However, border issues still remain. According to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the delimitation of the seabed will still require further work and additional agreements between littoral nations.

Work on the convention began in 1996, with the foreign ministers of the five states reaching consensus on its draft in Moscow in 2017.

Source(s): Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency