On January 24-25, the next meeting of the Joint Working Group on the division of the Caspian Sea between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan was held in Ashgabat, the Press Office of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported.

"The delegation of Azerbaijan was led by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the special representative of the President of Azerbaijan on the border and Caspian Sea issues, Khalaf Khalafov, and the Turkmen delegation was led by the director of the Caspian Sea Institute, the special representative of Turkmenistan on Caspian Sea issues, Murad Atajanov," the report added.

"During the joint working group meeting, the discussion of the provisions of the draft Agreement on the division of the bottom of the Caspian Sea between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan continued," the information stated.

Before that, on September 12-13, 2022, a meeting of the joint working group of the two countries was held on the issues of dividing the bottom of the Caspian Sea in Baku. "The provisions of the draft Agreement between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on the division of the bottom of the Caspian Sea between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan were discussed at the meeting. The parties agreed to continue the negotiations on the division of the bottom of the Caspian Sea," it emphasized.

Notably, on August 12, 2018, the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea was signed at the 5th Summit meeting of the heads of state of the Caspian littoral states in Aktau, Kazakhstan. According to the convention, the national zone of each state at a distance of 15 miles and a fishing zone at a distance of 10 miles are defined on the water surface of the Caspian Sea. The remaining parts are intended for general use for shipping and other purposes. According to the document, the bottom of the sea is wholly divided into sectors for opposite and side countries. General use of the seabed is not envisaged. The rights related to the laying of pipelines and trans-lines have been established. During the construction of pipelines and other trans-lines, which country will pass through the sector, will be agreed upon with that country on a bilateral basis. According to the convention, dividing the sea into sectors will be done considering the mainland and the islands as a continuation of the mainland territory. Depending on the border of the countries and the border length, the distribution will be done based on the agreed method.

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