Kazakh parliament's lower chamber ratifies agreement with Russia on North-Caspian delineation

On Wednesday the Majilis /the Kazakh parliament's lower chamber/ endorsed a blueprint on ratification of the Russian-Kazakh agreement and its protocol on the North-Caspian sea-bed delineation. The document was signed in 1998.

In accordance with the agreement, the sea-bed of the northern part of the Caspian Sea and its subsoil is "demarcated between the sides by a median modified line," a RIA Novosti correspondent reports.

This May following bilateral negotiations, Kazakhstan and Russia signed the protocol to the agreement, according to which Kazakhstan will exercise its right to use subsoil at the Kurmangazy deposit, Russia - at the Khvalynskoye and Tsentralnoye deposits. Moreover, the sides will "develop the resources jointly", Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Abuseitov remarked in the Majilis on Wednesday.

"At present we have absolute rights to develop the deposits within our jurisdiction," Abuseitov stated.

According to him, now Kazakhstan is working on determining the modified line with Azerbaijan.

The results of the recent Kazakh-Iranian talks on determining the Caspian status "give ground to presume that the Iranian side will also make use of the conceptual approaches that were worked out during Russian-Kazakh negotiations," Abuseitov said.