Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.30
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
The agreements reached during the 4th Caspian Summit in Astrakhan, will allow to improve the environment of the region, Director of Risk Assessment Group, Kazakh political analyst Dosym Satpayev said.
The expert said the heads of the Caspian Five reached agreements on preserving the biodiversity of the Caspian Sea, which promise positive changes in the environmental sphere.
"The legal status of the Caspian Sea and preservation of the ecological balance are key issues. All participants of the summit touched upon the need to preserve the biodiversity, which shows that this is a topical issue for all the littoral states, including Kazakhstan."
At the same time, the environmental issue has a flip side, according to Satpayev.
"Everyone understands that Russia and Iran mainly focus on the environmental issues in the Caspian Sea dialogue, because they know that this will hinder the construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline or an oil pipeline, about which the Europeans have long been dreaming. That's to say, the environmental factor is also a geopolitical tool for Russia and Iran," the expert said.
He added that the crisis in Ukraine and the conflict between Russia and the West have made the construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline a more topical issue and some European experts even talk about the need to revive the Nabucco project.
"However, Turkmenistan has repeatedly stated that it will supply gas to Europe provided the European countries will finance the construction of a gas pipeline through the Caspian Sea and the legal status of the sea will be determined," he said.
"As long as these two conditions are not fulfilled, the process will be slowed down," he said.
In addition, another important result of the summit is the agreement that armed forces, which are not parties of the negotiation process on the Caspian should not be present at the Caspian region, Satpaev said. However, there will be contradictions on this issue in his opinion.
"Because, for example, Azerbaijan is a supporter of a multi-vector position and is not going to refuse to cooperate with either United States or Turkey or Israel or other countries. Kazakhstan also has repeatedly stated that it is ready to interact with different parties, not only with the Russians on the construction of its military infrastructure in the Caspian Sea. And it is the sovereign right of our countries," said the expert.
At the same time, it is early to speak about reaching the agreement on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, Satpayev said. Iran is unlikely to support the model of division of the Caspian Sea, which is actively lobbied by Russia and which previously was supported by Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
"Tehran has not yet given up its idea of sectoral division of the Caspian Sea to equal shares of 20 percent, which is opposed by almost everyone except Turkmenistan, which is still in its favorite neutral position," said the expert.
At the same time Satpayev noted that some officials have already announced that convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea will be signed at the next summit of "Caspian Five" in Kazakhstan.
