Rich incentive for agreement

Envoys of the five littoral states of the Caspian Sea meet again in search of a resolution on their common resource. Believed to contain the world's third-largest energy reserves, the Caspian's legal status has been in limbo since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Before then Iran and the Soviet Union shared its trove of oil and gas, fish and the lucrative if decreasing caviar yields. The breakup produced five claimants -- Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Iran insists that each littoral nation receive 20 per cent of the sea bed. Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan want to divide the sea bed along territorial lines - a proposal that would leave Iran with the smallest share, less than 15 per cent of the Caspian coast. Turkmenistan is undecided. Twelve years of meetings, including a long-delayed summit of leaders of the littoral states in Apr 2002, have failed to make progress on the major issues. Disagreements over exclusion zones, security, fishing and ecological degradation add to the fundamental dispute over divisions. All five have strong incentive to agree: several lucrative drilling and pipeline operations have been launched, but all-out investment and development of the Caspian bonanza awaits a treaty.