The fifth summit of the Caspian littoral states in Aktau 2018 Several states in the

Caspian Caspian can refer to: *The Caspian Sea *The Caspian Depression, surrounding the northern part of the Caspian Sea *The Caspians, the ancient people living near the Caspian Sea *Caspian languages, collection of languages and dialects of Caspian peopl ...

region, including the five littoral states of the Caspian Sea, namely the Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Azerbaijan use ''ad hoc'' diplomatic relations to build trust and goodwill as well as to boost the bargaining power of their governments. Generally, the focus is to establish, design, and amend regional and international rules about the

world system A world-system is a socioeconomic system, under systems theory, that encompasses part or all of the globe, detailing the aggregate structural result of the sum of the interactions between polities. World-systems are usually larger than single sta ...

and the littoral states. Mechanisms include

hard power In politics, hard power is the use of military and economic means to influence the behavior or interests of other political bodies. This form of political power is often aggressive (coercion), and is most immediately effective when imposed by one ...

soft power In politics (and particularly in international politics), soft power is the ability to co-opt rather than coerce (contrast hard power). In other words, soft power involves shaping the preferences of others through appeal and attraction. A defin ...

, and

smart power In international relations, the term smart power refers to the combination of hard power and soft power strategies. It is defined by the Center for Strategic and International Studies as "an approach that underscores the necessity of a strong mil ...

to achieve hard security,

soft security Soft security usually refers to security that protects something from harm in quiet and unobtrusive ways, often invisibly and after the fact, rather than with visible barriers before the fact. Soft security can refer to immediate security measures ...

, and smart security.

Summits

Diplomatic processes include repeated summits over the centuries: * Treaty of Turkmenchay, 1828 - The first diplomatic effort, the treaty barred Iran from deploying military ships in the Caspian Sea. * Ashgabat, 2002 - The first Caspian Sea Summit was held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, in April 2003. Items included combating pollution and the protecting the water in the Caspian Sea. * Tehran, 2007 - The next summit was held in Tehran and ended with the signing of the Caspian Environment Convention. This was the first international law document related to the Caspian Sea, approved and implemented by the legislatures of the five littoral states. The meeting agreed on general principles of

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

, protection of the Caspian Sea, and shipping from littoral countries. A memorandum of understanding on security and military cooperation aimed at fighting terrorism and extremism was also negotiated. *

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, 2010 - On November 18, 2010, the group met in

. It achieved the signing of the Security and Military Cooperation Agreement. * Astrakhan, 2014 - The fourth summit was held in 2014 in Astrakhan, in the Russian Federation. It resulted in three agreements: ** Protection and optimal use of water resources ** Weather ** Prevention and response to emergencies. * Nur-Sultan, 2017 - The Astana Summit was held at the

foreign minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

level in 2017. Although the foreign ministers had sufficient authority to coordinate some parts of the Caspian Sea Convention, disagreement on some key issues led to adjournment to the following year. Issues included the division of the Caspian Sea into national sections, construction of pipelines across the seabed, and the navigational situation. * Aktau, 2018 - The meeting in 2018 in Aktau, Kazakhstan reached an agreement on the forms of exploitation of the Caspian Sea, and the water and coastal boundaries between the five states. The agreement had 24 articles. Among the more important were: ** Article 1: A warship belonging to

peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities intended to create conditions that favour lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed warfare. Within the United N ...

forces must have the insignia of one of the five states and be under the command of an officer formally appointed by that government. **Article 2: Sovereignty, sovereign rights, monopoly and jurisdiction will be exercised in the Caspian Sea. The Convention set out the rights and obligations of the parties, including the waters, water bed,

subsoil Subsoil is the layer of soil under the topsoil on the surface of the ground. Like topsoil, it is composed of a variable mixture of small particles such as sand, silt and clay, but with a much lower percentage of organic matter and humus, and it ...

, natural resources, and

airspace Airspace is the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere. It is not the same as aerospace, which is the ...

above the sea. **Article 5: The Caspian Sea water area is divided into inland waters, territorial waters, fishing areas, and common sea areas.

Political cooperation

Energy

The Caspian Sea's oil resources are second only to those of the Persian Gulf. Security concerns in the Middle East and the consequent reluctance to invest there have increased the focus on the Caspian region and its energy resources. The Caspian Sea basin reserves include 48 billion barrels of oil and gas reserves of 292 trillion cubic meters, the world's fourth largest gas reserve.

Pipelines

# Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline # South Caucasus Pipeline #

Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline The Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) Pipeline, also known as Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline, is a natural gas pipeline being developed by the Galkynysh – TAPI Pipeline Company Limited with participation of the Asian Development ...

The five states have not yet set resource exploitation rules. The main reason for these disputes and crises is how to transfer and export these resources.

Sources

{{Reflist Caspian Sea Oil reserves Admiralty law International borders Treaties of Iran Treaties of Turkmenistan Treaties of Kazakhstan Treaties of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan–Iran relations Pipelines Azerbaijan–Russia relations Azerbaijan–Turkmenistan relations Multilateral relations of Russia Multilateral relations of Kazakhstan International law Environmental mitigation Jurisdiction Sovereignty Diplomatic conferences