5 nations surrounding Caspian Sea sign deal on legal status
- 6 years ago
Five nations surrounding the Caspian Sea have signed a landmark deal on how to legally divide it up.
The leaders of Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan signed the agreement in the Kazakh city of Aktau on Sunday.
It seeks to resolve more than two decades of regional tensions by creating a formula to divide resources and preventing a military presence around the sea.
Another contentious issue was whether or not, despite its name, the Caspian Sea was a sea or a lake.
If it's a sea, then each nation gets a share of resources in proportion to the shoreline, but a lake would mean an equal split between the states.
In Sunday's deal, the leaders agreed to assume it was both, but did not yet agree on who gets what.
The leaders of Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan signed the agreement in the Kazakh city of Aktau on Sunday.
It seeks to resolve more than two decades of regional tensions by creating a formula to divide resources and preventing a military presence around the sea.
Another contentious issue was whether or not, despite its name, the Caspian Sea was a sea or a lake.
If it's a sea, then each nation gets a share of resources in proportion to the shoreline, but a lake would mean an equal split between the states.
In Sunday's deal, the leaders agreed to assume it was both, but did not yet agree on who gets what.