The Second International Oil and Gas Summit-The Caspian in the 21st Century: from Politics to Business. Results and Recommendations
On 23rd-24th May 2002, Astrakhan hosted the second international oil and gas summit—The Caspian in the 21st Century: from Politics to Business—organised by the administration of the Astrakhan region and the Neftegazovaya Vertikal, a Russian trade magazine. This annual event was attended by 170 representatives from the political, business and academic elite of the Caspian states. They gathered not only to share the problems faced by their countries in their attempts to define the legal status of the Caspian Sea, but also to find the right solutions.
The participants discussed urgent political, economic, legal and ecological aspects of hydrocarbons development in the Caspian, as well as oil and gas transportation and the sustainable development of the Caspian region as a whole. The conclusion was positive—the region offers favourable conditions for regional and international co-operation, mutual understanding and unity.
This was demonstrated at the first Caspian summit held on 23rd-24th April 2002 in Ashgabad, where the participants agreed to continue the tradition of holding summits with the Caspian Five presidents and to activate negotiations on all facets of interaction in the Caspian region.
Most of the members highly appreciated the protocol of the 1998 Agreement on Delimiting the Northern Caspian Seabed for Exercising Sovereign Subsoil Use Rights, signed by the presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan on 13th May 2002 in Moscow, as well as a similar agreement signed by the presidents of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan in November 2001, and an agreement reached by the presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan on signing a similar treaty between the two countries. Some participants believe these agreements could be taken into consideration when negotiating the legal status of the Caspian Sea, which will be finally defined by the mutual consent of the littoral states.
All the countries agreed on settling the issues of the use of subsoil resources, fisheries, and the environment in the Caspian Sea as top priorities.
They also emphasised the urgent need to create a Caspian environmental centre and a Caspian environmental fund.
The members of the summit are sure that the Caspian region will strengthen its position in the world as a region with huge hydrocarbon resources. Increasing oil production, transportation and processing should be developed in harmony with sustainable growth in other industries of the Caspian countries, particularly their littoral regions, and the protection of the Caspian’s environment.
In the opinion of the participants, the development of the Caspian’s resources should, first of all, lead to improvements in the standards of living in the littoral areas and the preservation of nature.
Politicians and businessmen should focus their endeavours on projects that will benefit all the Caspian nations.
The summit stressed the importance of enhancing economic relations between the Caspian countries, especially in the fuel and energy sector, through economically and environmentally sound projects for production and the transportation of Caspian hydrocarbons to international markets.
The countries backed up the initiative to form a North-South international transport corridor.
The members of the summit called on the presidents, governments and parliaments of the Caspian states:
1. To intensify joint efforts in elaborating and signing the Convention for the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea based on mutual consent, and to enter into an agreement on co-operation among the Caspian states in hydrometeorology and monitoring of the Caspian environment, as well as an agreement and a framework convention for the protection of the Caspian environment;
2. To encourage investment from business circles in projects aimed at making effective use of Caspian hydrocarbons;
3. To speed up the elaboration and approval of unified environmental requirements for subsoil operations in order to ensure the effective development of the Caspian’s resources; to define high-priority measures for stiffening environmental requirements to all operations in the Caspian Sea based on «no-waste» technology; to develop an emergency plan covering oil spills and other contingencies.
4. To guarantee the balanced use of the biological resources of the Caspian Sea, including an agreement regulating the use of all fish species and providing measures for preventing any negative impact from the operations in the Caspian Sea on its biological resources.
Table of contents
A few aspects of Russia’s policy in the Caspian region * Viktor Kalyuzhny
Kazakhstan’s Position Regarding the Legal Status of the Caspian and Outlook for Economic Development of the Region Bulat Sarsenbayev
Legal Framework Of Kazakhstan’s Telecommunications Sector Thomas C. O’Brien, Victoria P. Simonova
Alternatives in international dispute resolution* Sigvard Jarvin
