The Caspian Convention permits the laying of underwater pipelines and cables - the government of the Russian Federation
The draft convention on the legal status of the Caspian suggests an opportunity for the member countries to lay underwater pipelines, the document published by the Russian government says, RIA Novosti reported. The Russian government adopted a resolution proposing that President Vladimir Putin sign the draft convention. The draft convention itself was also published on the official portal of legal information. Thus, article 14 of the draft convention states that the parties can lay underwater cables and pipelines along the bottom of the Caspian Sea. At the same time, it is stipulated that such projects must comply with environmental requirements and standards enshrined in international treaties. In this regard, the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea of 2003 and the protocols therein are mentioned. Also, the draft Caspian Convention emphasizes that the definition of the route of underwater cables and pipelines is carried out in agreement with the country, through the sector of the bottom of which an underwater cable or pipeline must be built. Finally, countries laying an underwater pipeline or cable are required to inform the other coastal states of the coordinates of the areas where they will be laid, to make sure that underwater work is not prohibited in these areas. The fact that the Russian government proposed to the Russian president to approve the draft convention on the legal status of the Caspian indicates that, most likely, this very important document, as it was announced, will be adopted in August in the Kazakh city of Aktau at the summit of the heads of the Caspian states. Thus, a maximum of two months later, the last obstacles to the construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, which will allow Turkmenistan to connect to the Southern gas corridor and supply natural gas to the European market, will be removed. Many countries and alliances of states interested in this project have already begun to carry out preparatory work so that when the convention is adopted without wasting time, it would be immediately possible to begin solving practical issues of constructing a pipeline on the seabed. In particular, ORIENT already reported that Georgia and the European Commission came to an agreement on joint financing of the commercial engineering of the gas pipeline project along the Caspian seabed, which will connect Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
