Unilateral action on construction of Trans Caspian pipelines is inadmissible

Caspian Energy (CE): What could you say about the results of the session of the joint workgroup on the Caspian Sea hosted in Baku? What are the points of the Convention where the workgroup could build a consensus? How ready is the Convention for signing?

Igor Bratchikov, Head of the Russian Delegation to the Multilateral Talks on the Caspian Sea, Ambassador-at-large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation: The main outcomes of the 44th meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers of the Caspian Sea States hosted in Baku on 5-6 April this year were reflected in the official communiqué issued after the meeting. I am pleased to note that a number of important provisions and articles of the draft Convention, including those relating to sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the Caspian Sea, were agreed during the talks in the five-sided format. I would like to extend special thanks to the Azerbaijani side, which perfectly organised and hosted this meeting.

This year, the format of the Ad Hoc Working Group is celebrating its 20th anniversary of its establishing. Looking back, you realise how much has been done to bring together the positions of the five countries on the wide range of issues related to the Caspian Sea legal status. The resolutions of the Fourth Caspian Summit held in Astrakhan in 2014 enabled the additional push to this work. The progress made on the negotiation track over the last year and a half opens real prospects to have a ready Convention text in the very near future.