September 17, 2002	Tuesday	Rajab 9, 1423

MOSCOW, Sept 16: An agreement is almost ready on the sharing of the oil-rich Caspian sea, which has been at the core of a row between the five states bordering it since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a top Russian official said on Monday.

The signature of a document on the Caspian’s status is 90 per cent ready, and we are nearing the final stage of talks, the Interfax news agency quoted Russia’s Capsian envoy Viktor Kalyuzhny as saying.

The Caspian Sea has been in legal limbo since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 created three new bordering states in addition to Russia and Iran.

Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan want to divide the sea into national sectors, corresponding roughly to the length of each country’s shoreline and giving Iran only a 13-per cent share.—AFP