The Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea: first results

On 12 August 2018, the Fifth Caspian Summit was held in Aktau, Kazakhstan, during which the presidents of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan signed a fundamental document for regional cooperation — the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea. This comprehensive agreement concludes years of negotiations and enshrines the legal modalities for cooperation between the littoral states in an international legal framework. Its key feature is the harmonious combination of historical principles of interaction between regional actors with new elements in line with modern realities. Since the Convention has laid the foundations for a future-oriented conflict-free model of five-party cooperation based on trust, friendship and good neighborliness, it has come to be compared with the «Constitution of the Caspian Sea» in the expert community.
This article provides a structural analysis of the Convention’s provisions and examines its effect on the relationship between the littoral states. The study identifies the reasons that prompted the five Caspian states to start working on the agreement and emphasizes the key role of Russian diplomacy in achieving success in the negotiation process. The author elaborates on the main provisions of the Convention and highlights the areas where the greatest progress has been made. Particular attention is paid to the establishment of a high-level regular consultation mechanism with an emphasis on the development of a methodology for establishing straight baselines in the Caspian Sea area. Interim projections were made regarding possible dates for the Convention’s entry into force. Moreover, the article outlines prospects for holding the Sixth Caspian Summit in Turkmenistan by the end of 2021 and suggests which documents may be adopted at the summit. The author concludes that there is a need to further improve the international legal framework for cooperation and to expand the network of five-party cooperation mechanisms in order to strengthen the sub-regional cooperation model.

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