| The two-day first Intergovernmental Economic Conference of Caspian littoral states, held Oct. 3 to 5 in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan on the Volga delta, drew surprisingly little coverage in the Western press, despite its potential importance. Russian delegates floated a proposal that the Caspian coastal nations of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan establish a Caspian Economic Cooperation Organization. If the organization comes to fruition, it could solve one of the most complex diplomatic stalemates stymieing the unbridled development of the Caspian's offshore waters and seabed -- an equitable division of the inland sea's assets. |