A summit of Caspian Sea leaders due to meet in March to discuss sharing the region's vast oil and gas resources has been postponed until April, Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov announced Monday.
Leaders of the five littoral states, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, had been due to meet March 8-9 in the city of Turkmenbashi, in Turkmenistan.
"At the request of Iran, the Caspian summit has been postponed to the first half of April. There is no need to search for any reason for this," Niyazov said at a government session aired by Turkmen television.
The leaders of the five countries were expected to hold a number of bilateral meetings as well as sign a joint statement on the Caspians legal status, Interfax reported.
The five states have been unable to agree on how to divide the sea, which, according to some estimates, could contain 200 billion barrels of oil and 600 trillion cubic feet (18 trillion cubic meters) of gas reserves.—AFP.
©--Agence France Presse 2001.
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
