"The main theme of the upcoming talks is to agree on a draft convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, to discuss the progress made in certain areas of cooperation in the Caspian Sea, as well as issues related to the preparations for the fifth Caspian summit, scheduled to take place in Kazakhstan," Kazakh Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Earlier, it was reported that the agenda of the forthcoming meeting will include questions such as the five-sided cooperation in various spheres, including the economy, transportation, safety and the environment.
The question of defining the legal status of Caspian Sea reopened after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the emergence of new subjects of international law, namely Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan as states, raised the question of demarcation of the Caspian Sea among the five countries.
Difficulty in determining the status of the Caspian Sea is linked to its recognition as a lake or a sea — a distinction which is governed by different provisions of international law and would have political ramifications.
