Summit of heads of Caspian region states in Astrakhan

In the run-up to the summit of the “Caspian Five” in Astrakhan on 29 September 2014 the main issue for the states surrounding the Caspian Sea is the same as it was twenty years ago: the question of how the Caspian shelf should be divided. No new treaties on this question have emerged during the period since the collapse of the USSR. The main reason for this is the substantial disagreements on the matter of dividing this inland sea’s shelf and the use of its waters and natural resources...