A speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan
E. Idrisova at opening of Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Caspian states
(Astana, on July 13, 2016)
Dear colleagues!
Dear participants of the Meeting!
I am glad to welcome all of you in Astana, at Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Caspian states. The meeting in such format takes place in Kazakhstan for the first time and the important stage of preparation for the Fifth summit of “the Caspian five” is planned to take place on Kazakhstan land.
Negotiations on settlement of legal status of the Caspian Sea within the Special working group have begun, almost, 20 years ago. For this period of time the parties have done huge amount of work and will make significant progress in coordination of separate elements of legal regime of the Caspian reservoir. During discussion and an exchange of opinions participants of negotiation process managed to come very close to reaching consensus under the draft convention on legal status of the Caspian Sea.
“The Caspian five” has a historical value for strengthening of good-neighbourhood, effective cooperation and maintenance of stability in the Caspian region. The agreements reached during five-sided summits had really breakthrough nature and have given a powerful impulse to the Caspian negotiation process in general.
The Caspian summit of 2002 in Ashgabat has laid to the foundation of carrying out summits.
Signing of the Declaration of the Caspian states which at the highest political level has fixed arrangements on some elements of legal status of the Caspian Sea, safety and stability at the sea, and also to the questions connected with a line item of the parties on separate aspects of the international relations became a result of the Second summit in Tehran.
The meeting of Heads of the Caspian states in Baku has been marked by signing of two five-sided documents: Agreements on cooperation in the sphere of safety on the Caspian Sea and the Joint statement of Presidents of “the Caspian five”.
Besides, in the capital of Azerbaijan leaders of our countries have reached the agreement in principle concerning width of the national zone including water space under sovereignty of the coastal state. Long time this question was a stumbling block for the Caspian negotiators.
The special importance of the Baku meeting is given by the arrangement on development of the mechanism of entering of the moratorium on catch of sturgeon species of fish in the Caspian Sea to which significant damage of population for the last decades has been caused. The voluntary compliance by the parties of a prohibition on catch which has followed it sturgeon in the industrial purposes, and also the conclusion of the relevant Agreement directed to protection of bioresources of the Caspian Sea gives to us hope for preserving unique fauna for future generations.
The joint statement of Heads of states, Zac became the most important document of the Fourth Caspian summit which has taken place in Astrakhan two years ago