Russia and Norway will sign on Wednesday a treaty on the demarcation of their maritime borders in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean, the Kremlin said.
The document will be signed in Russia's northern city of Murmansk in the presence of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
The new treaty will put an end to a long-running territorial dispute between the two countries, and open up prospects for closer bilateral cooperation in the exploration of vast resources in the region.
"The significance of this event goes beyond a purely bilateral dimension. It is also a practical example of the implementation of the principle that all disputes in the Arctic must be resolved solely by the Arctic states through negotiations and on the basis of existing international laws," the Kremlin said.
The treaty will set legal standards for the shared exploration and use of energy and fishing resources in an area of 175,000 square kilometers in the Barents Sea, which has been the issue of the dispute between Norway and Russia for almost 40 years.
MOSCOW, September 15 (RIA Novosti)
