Caspian Energy (CE): Mr. Khalafov, what documents are to be signed at the Summit of the five littoral states? 

Khalaf Khalafov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Head of the Workgroup for the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea representing Azerbaijan: As you know, the Summit is scheduled for the third decade of September. The meeting will be held in Astrakhan, Russia. The Summit will follow the meeting of experts that is to be held to sum up all the materials, preparatory work, and final documents to be signed during the summit. A working meeting of foreign ministers is scheduled to the summit of the leaders of the Caspian Sea states. 

It is common knowledge that the previous summit was held in Baku in 2010. It resulted in the decision to host the next summit in the Russian Federation. Preparatory work lasted almost 4 years. In parallel, we worked on basic documents of the special workgroup on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, held regular meetings by turns in Caspian littoral states and consistently worked on a convention. However, at the same time the idea to host and arrange the next summit in the Russian Federation was always with us. As a result, almost one year ago the idea to hold a summit in Astrakhan became stronger and developed into organizational work. It was to work on all branch documents on the Caspian Sea and basic documents to be discussed during the summit. For almost one year our meetings and sessions were dedicated to preparation for the summit. Different countries put forward initiatives on different areas.