Speaking to reporters, the Head of State pointed to the symbolism of the Fifth Caspian Summit on the International Day of the Caspian Sea.
- My colleagues and I have summed up the results of many years of work to resolve the legal status of the Caspian Sea. We have discussed the state of affairs and further measures to promote multilateral practical cooperation. We have signed a number of important agreements in the areas of trade, economy, transport and security, the President of Kazakhstan said.
Nursultan Nazarbayev, noting the success of the talks, stressed that in the process of preparing the Convention, all countries proceeded from the interests of ensuring political stability, development of the Caspian region, preservation and enhancement of its natural resources.
- The culmination of many years of painstaking work is signing the Convention today on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea. The Convention is a kind of Constitution of the Caspian Sea. It is called upon to resolve the entire complex of issues related to the rights and obligations of coastal states, and also to become a guarantor of security, stability and prosperity in the region, the President of Kazakhstan stated.
Nursultan Nazarbayev told the journalists present that the Convention creates an effective legal basis for cooperation of riparian countries in a wide range of areas and determines the basic principles of each of the parties.
- Among them is the transformation of the Caspian Sea into a zone of peace, good-neighbourliness and friendship; its use for peaceful purposes; respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity; lack of the armed forces on the Caspian Sea that do not belong to the parties. We have established territorial waters with a width of 15 marine miles, while their external borders acquire the status of state ones. The territorial waters are adjoined by ten-mile fishing zones, where each state has exclusive rights for fishing. Outside the fishing zones, the common water area remains unchanged. Outside the sea frontiers, freedom of navigation will be applied to ships flying the flags of coastal countries. The agreement on freedom of transit to other seas and the oceans is of great importance. Each state implements sovereign rights to subsoil use within the boundaries of its bottom sector. At the same time it is possible to lay main pipelines and cables along the seabed with the condition of observing ecological requirements, the Head of State said.
The President of Kazakhstan has stressed that observance of these principles is intended to contribute to the development of transport infrastructure of the coastal states, to increase the transit potential of the Caspian region, as well as to preserve the ecological system and the unique population of the Caspian's biological resources.
In addition, Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed a number of additional measures for the further development of cooperation in the Caspian Sea, including conclusion of a separate five-sided agreement on agreed confidence-building measures in the field of military activities, stimulation of trade and economic relations of coastal countries, especially on investment cooperation and implementation of projects in the energy sphere, optimization of tariff policy and improvement of transportation conditions, as well as adopting a document to combat illegal fishing biological resources.
In conclusion, the Head of State stressed that Aktau Summit once again demonstrated the ability of the Caspian countries to jointly solve large-scale tasks and expressed confidence that the adopted international treaties and agreements reached would contribute to the fullest disclosure of the potential of the Caspian Five.
At the end of the summit, the Presidents of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani, Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov have made statements.
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Following the Fifth Caspian Summit, the following documents have been inked:
1. Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea.
2. Protocol on Cooperation in the field of combating terrorism in the Caspian Sea.
3. Protocol on Cooperation in the field of combating organized crime in the Caspian Sea.
4. Agreement between the governments of the Caspian states on trade and economic cooperation.
5. Agreement between the governments of the Caspian states on cooperation in the field of transport.
6. Agreement on prevention of incidents in the Caspian Sea.
7. Protocol on Cooperation and interaction of border agencies.
