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The Caspian Sea is the largest completely enclosed body of salt water in the world and constitutes a particularly fragile ecosystem. It contains great fishery resources, including 90% of the world’s stock of sturgeon, as well as vast oil and gas deposits in the subsoil. It is crossed by important transportation routes connecting Europe and Central Asia. For much of the twentieth century it was within the exclusive domain of Iran and the USSR, with the latter enjoying naval dominance. With the collapse of the Soviet Union the geopolitical situation in the region changed significantly. Instead of two, there are currently five riparian states – Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan – each filing differing legal claims.

Draft Caspian Sea Plan Concerning Regional Cooperation in Combating Oil Pollution in Cases of Emergency (Aktau Protocol Implementation Plan).

The arrangements in the Aktau Protocol Implementation Plan are intended to facilitate the development of joint response operations and to co-ordinate the use of the available resources in the region. They also outline in advance the financial conditions and administrative clauses of the actions, thus permitting rapid intervention in case of emergency by removing the need for lengthy negotiations during the course of the event.