Russia, Kazakhstan Claim Great Progress on Caspian Distribution

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 30, 2001

Russia, Kazakhstan Claim Great Progress on Caspian Distribution

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev stated here Thursday that they have reached "a very serious progress" over the distribution of the Caspian resources.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev stated here Thursday that they have reached "a very serious progress" over the distribution of the Caspian resources.

The progress may pave the way for signing a bilateral pact on exploiting the rich oil and natural gas reserves on the bottom of the north Caspian Sea.

"Such a progress may provide for the signing of a bilateral agreement on equidistant modified line on the bottom of the northern Caspian Sea," a Kremlin official told reporters after a Putin's meeting with Nazarbayev, who arrived here Thursday for attending the CIS 10th anniversary summit, due to be held here Friday.

"This will give the most hope for the completion of all expert work and the signing of a bilateral agreement on the long-disputed problem in the first half of the next year," said Sergei Prikhodko, deputy head of Putin's administration.

The signing of this agreement will become a real step toward the settlement of the Caspian Sea status issue, he said.

"The delimitation of the northern Caspian Sea is an important and real task, whose fulfillment will facilitate the rate of development of gas and oil fields," Prikhodko emphasized.

The Kazakh president proposed to think over joint oil and gas sales, and Putin expressed support for Nazarbayev's proposal to give an additional impulse to the cooperation between the two countries in customs, economic, and transport spheres.

Prikhodko said the two leaders also dealt with issues on boosting bilateral economic cooperation and additional efforts to step up the integration within the scope of Eurasian economic cooperation.