Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan hold consultations on Caspian issues

Bilateral consultations between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on issues of the Caspian Sea were held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Trend reports referring to the ministry.
In consultations, the Azerbaijani side was represented by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Special Representative of the President of Azerbaijan for border and Caspian Sea issues Khalaf Khalafov, while the Kazakh side was represented by Special Envoy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Special Representative of Kazakhstan on the Caspian Sea Zulfiya Amanzholova.
During the consultations, the issue of establishing the Secretariat of the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea was discussed, and the importance of speeding up the coordination process between the parties to the Convention for the early start of the work of the Secretariat was emphasized.
At the meeting, an exchange of views took place on the implementation of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea signed by the heads of the Caspian littoral states, as well as on draft agreements on cooperation issues being negotiated between the Caspian littoral states.
The parties also discussed issues on the agenda of the next meeting of the High Level Working Group on the Caspian Sea, including the draft Agreement on the methodology for determining direct baselines in the Caspian Sea.
Furthermore, talks were held on the process of laying a fiber optic cable line along the seabed and other possible projects.
Other topics of mutual interest were also discussed during the meeting.