The Summit of the heads of Caspian littoral states with the participation of Presidents Heydar Aliyev (Azerbaijan), Saparmurat Niyazov (Turkmenistan), Mohammad Khatami (Iran), Nursultan Nazarbayev (Kazakhstan) and Vladimir Putin (Russia) was the first summit. At the closed meeting Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan defended the sharing of offshore fields along the middle line and the shared use of the sea surface. On the other hand, Turkmenistan has created differences of opinion by supporting the argument of the division of the Caspian Sea.