Iran Rejects Russian-Kazakhstan Deal on Caspian Exploitation

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 15, 2002

Iran Rejects Russian-Kazakhstan Deal on Caspian Exploitation

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Iran on Wednesday rejected an agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan to share the northern part of the Caspian Sea bed, accusing that such a contract stands in the way of a speedy solution for the legal regime of the waters.

"The conclusion of agreements of this kind will delay the pace of five-side negotiations among the littoral states in order to reach a collective agreement on the legal regime of the Caspian Sea," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told the official IRNA news agency.

He reiterated Iran's stance on the thorny issue, saying that consensus of all coastal countries is needed for reaching a permanent solution on how to divide and tap resources in the Caspian Sea, which is estimated to contain the world's third largest reserves of oil and gas after the Persian Gulf and Siberia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev signed an agreement on Monday in the Kremlin to share oil and gas fields in northern part of the Caspian Sea.

The deal was signed following last month's summit held in the Turkmenian Capital of Ashkhabad where leaders from Iran, Russia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan gathered to narrow their differences over how to divide the energy-rich waters.

Of the five Caspian members, Iran and Turkmenistan have been pushing for an agreement to secure an equal sharing, or 20 percent, of the underwater wealth, a formula opposed by Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

The latter three favor a principle of carving up the sea into national sectors, corresponding roughly to the length of each country's shoreline. This might leave Iran with only 13 percent of the seabed.

Hassan Rowhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, dismissed on Tuesday any bilateral or trilateral agreement on using the resources of the Caspian Sea as lacking legal

validity.

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