The Caspian Sea: Challenges and Opportunities for Cooperation Among Littoral States After the 2018 Convention

The Caspian Sea, the largest landlocked body of water in the world, stands as a symbol of regional cooperation among the five littoral states—Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. On August 12, 2018, during the Fifth Caspian Summit in the port city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, these nations reached a historic agreement by signing the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea. According to this document, the Caspian is defined as a body of water with a special legal regime, neither a sea nor a lake. Under this regime, each country’s sovereignty is recognized within a 15-mile coastal fishing zone and an additional 10-mile exclusive navigation zone. However, the division of the seabed and subsoil resources was left to bilateral or multilateral agreements among neighboring countries. Nearly seven years after the convention’s signing, Iran and Turkmenistan in the southeastern part of the Caspian, and Iran and Azerbaijan in the southwest, have yet to reach a final agreement on maritime boundaries and seabed resource division. This article addresses the key question: why has a final agreement among the three southern Caspian states not been achieved, despite the passage of time? It examines the legal, political, and economic barriers hindering this process, analyzes potential solutions for accelerating consensus, and evaluates the impact of continued ambiguity on missed economic, security, and environmental opportunities for Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkmenistan. Using a descriptive-analytical approach and based on international documents, official governmental positions, and economic data, this article demonstrates how the absence of defined boundaries poses a persistent challenge in the region and explores the necessary steps for fostering future cooperation.