Ratification before year’s end?
We intend to synchronize the ratification of the Barents Sea delimitation deal, President Dmitry Medvedev said in yesterday’s press conference with Norway’s Jens Stoltenberg.
In the press conference following the signing of the Russian-Norwegian agreement on the delimitation of the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean, President Medvedev confirmed that the two sides intend to synchronize the ratification of the deal.
That means that the agreement could be signed already this year. In the same press conference, Norwegian Premier Jens Stoltenberg underlined that he hopes the Norwegian parliament – the Storting – will ratify the deal “before New Year”.
Read also:Norway and Russia sign maritime delimitation agreement
However, Medvedev at the same time admitted that the legislative assemblies have their respective procedures, which need to be followed, and that ratification processes of this kind generally are surrounded by special conditions which could “either help or hamper” the deal.
-We expect that we, following our joint actions, can create an atmosphere which will help with the ratification of the agreement, Medvedev stressed, a transcript from the briefing reads.
While the Norwegian ratification of the deal will be unproblematic, the Russian State Duma could possibly question several of the points in the agreement. The State Duma is controlled by the powerful United Russia, the party which is headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
