Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov offered on 8 September to resume bilateral negotiations with Turkmenistan on the division of the Caspian Sea. Khalafov explained that \"it is vitally important for both sides to agree on the middle line demarcating the Caspian Sea,\" and called for talks to resolve the status of two disputed offshore Caspian oil fields. Khalafov made the proposal at the opening meeting of the 11th session of the working group for the preparation of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat. Talks between the two countries over the Caspian broke down in May 2001, although three of the five littoral states --Russia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan -- reached a trilateral agreement on demarcation issues in May 2003. The working group is expected to forge a new framework convention for the protection of biological resources of the Caspian Sea during its meeting. (ITAR-TASS)