Exploring the Challenges and Solutions of Legal Regime of the Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the largest lake in the world and despite its size, it is not covered by the Law of the Sea Convention. Regarding the specific characteristics of the Caspian Sea, it is ruled by a special regime which is on the basis of the Soviet-Iranian agreements of 1921 and 1940 but the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and increase in the number of littoral states from two to five, i.e, Iran, Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have made necessary a new order based on a fair partition of the sea. These arrangements should include commuter ships, fishing and fisheries, environmental protection and exploration of the sea bed. The legal regime of the Caspian Sea was affected by a variety of economic, political, geopolitical, strategic and energy security considerations during the last decades. Also, due to activities made by important oil and gas multinational consortia, the presence of the trans-regional powers as a result of investment contracts and exploration and exploitation of natural resources under the Caspian Sea by littoral emerging countries, this debate has attracted the broad political and legal circles at the international level. Three newly independent countries are seeking to determine a new legal regime for the Caspian sea. Thus the Caspian sea has found a special place in the region and provided many grounds for conflict and cooperation among the littoral states.