The Turkmen capital Ashkhabad has been hosting a summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states for the past two days. As President Mohammad Khatami, who is attending the summit along with his Turkmen, Russian, Azeri and Kazakh counterparts, has said, the summit has provided a favorable opportunity for the littoral states to converge their views on how to exploit the sea's rich oil and gas resources, so that the interests of all five countries bordering the sea may be ensured.

The Caspian is an inland sea, that is it has no links to the high seas. Thus, according to international law, any decision about the exploitation of its natural resources should be made based on the consensus of all of its five littoral states. This is why at a meeting attended by officials from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) held in Almaty in 1996, those countries bordering the Caspian stressed the need for a consensus on how to share the Caspian's natural wealth.

However, what these countries should especially bear in mind is that they should give priority to their own collective regional interests rather than to the interests of outside powers, who are currently trying to create rifts and divisions among the littoral states in order to further their own illegitimate interests.

This point was rightly brought up by President Khatami, who said in Ashkhabad, "No one has the right to interfere in the Caspian apart from these five countries," adding, "the Caspian should be a sea of peace and accord."

The Iranian president also stated that "all questions touching on the Caspian should be decided by a consensus between the five bordering states in agreement and mutual understanding."

The fact is that ever since the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991, some outside powers like the United States have been coveting the rich natural resources of the Caspian. And in order to gain a foothold in the region and promote their interests, these powers have been trying to sow discord among littoral states by influencing some of these countries' media and instigating them to air provocative material.

For instance, while the presidents of all five countries bordering the Caspian have stressed the need for a consensus on the Caspian, Azerbaijan Republic's Leader TV channel on Monday night reported that in a draft document prepared for the Ashkhabad summit, Iran's share of the Caspian resources has been fixed at 13 percent and that of Azerbaijan Republic at 21 percent!

The provocative report also said that the reason why Iran is insisting on a greater share is because the Islamic Republic intends to secure a better strategic position in the sea! It is quite clear that such remarks are only the result of outside influence on these media.

Indeed, according to international law, as long as a new legal regime is not formulated through regional consensus, the 1921 and 1940 accords reached between the former Soviet Union and Iran form the basis for any division of the sea's natural resources. These two agreements stipulate that the above countries should share the Caspian, which means 50 percent of the sea's natural resources for each.

Furthermore, given that international law requires that any inland sea should be equally shared by its littoral states, even those arguing that the former Soviet Union has now been replaced by four countries also concede that each littoral state should be given a 20 percent share of the sea.

If all five countries rebuff outside interference, they can easily reach a consensus on the Caspian's new legal regime, which will pave the way for the exploitation of its natural resources and promote the development and prosperity of its littoral states.