Countries bordering the Caspian Sea fail to agree on reserves by Corina Ciubotaru

Iran seems to have found a strong supporter for its nuclear program in Russia, which would seriously hamper the United States' plan to end its nuclear program. President Vladimir Putin went to Iran on the first visit by a Russian leader to the country since World War II for a meeting of the five nations bordering the Caspian Sea on Tuesday where all of them agreed their territories should not be used by Western forces. The Caspian Sea is the third largest reserve of oil and natural gases, so an alliance between them against foreign countries who might want a piece of their gas was inevitable, but their main goal was to try and divide the reserves between them. Areas of influence over the inland water have been only vaguely defined since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and Putin stated every country should have a veto right in regard to where the pipelines transporting oil from the sea should be built. Even though the five countries have not reached an agreement on this matter, they were able to outline other areas of economic cooperation. Statements made after the summit by both Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wanted to let the Western world know Iran's nuclear program is tacitly supported by Russia and that the build of nuclear plant Bushehr will continue as planned. The five Caspian countries jointly declared their right to develop a peaceful nuclear program and acknowledged the rights of all signatories of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The five states bordering the Caspian Sea are Iran, Turkmenistan, Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071016/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_russia;_ylt=AtJ3CJCwkHU4Ox8jbw_ZCjis0NUE

by Corina Ciubotaru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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