AKIPRESS.COM - The Heads of State of all the five Caspian countries have gathered for the 4th Caspian Summit which has begun in Astrakhan.

Prior to the commencement of the meeting, Russian leader Vladimir Putin as Head of State of the hosting country held an official ceremony to welcome his counterparts. Then, after a photo session, they proceeded to the conference hall where a meeting in a narrow format began, reports ITAR-TASS.

Talks are then to be held in a broader format, after which joint documents are due to be signed and statements for the press will be made. An informal part of the program has also been plannned out. In particular, the leaders of the Caspian countries will take a stroll along the Volga River embankment where a symbolic release of sturgeon fry into the river will be effected.

Apart from attending the summit proceeding, Putin will hold separate meetings with the Presidents of Iran, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan. Putin will resume conversations with Kazakhstan's President on Tuesday during a forum of border regions in Kazakhstani Atyrau.

The Russian leadership hopes that the Caspian summit will help make headway in a long process of negotiations on the status and delimitation of water areas of the Caspian Sea. A joint political statement to be made by the presidents of the five Caspian states will be a cornerstone of the future Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

The Caspian sea is a unique water area in terms of its bio and ecological resource, which includes more than 500 kinds of sea plants and 854 kinds of fish species, including the Caspian sturgeon which accounts for 90% of the world stock of sturgeon fish.

A predicted amount of Caspian hydrocarbon resources has been estimated at around 18 billion tons, with the proved reserves put at four billion tons, which brings the Caspian Sea to second position after the Persian Gulf in the rating of the world biggest oil and gas reserves.

The first Caspian summit was held in Ashgabat in 2002; the second one five years later in Tehran, and a third one in Baku in November 2010. After Astrakhan, the baton of Caspian summits will pass on to Kazakhstan.