The Kazakh Foreign Ministry has come out with an initiative to sign a bilateral agreement with Azerbaijan on dividing the Caspian seabed along a modified median line. Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrisov submitted a corresponding proposal to Kazakh Prime Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev, Interfax was told. The median line should be drawn on the basis of equidistance from the coastlines of the sides proceeding from the median sea level for many years, which is equal to minus 28 meters of the Baltic system of altitudes, the draft agreement says. Within their sectors the sides will exercise rights in prospecting, developing and managing seabed and subsoil mineral resources, building underwater cables, pipelines and infrastructure. If the dividing line crosses promising sectors and deposits, their prospecting and development will be dealt with in separate agreements between the sides. However, according to the Iranian news agency IRNA, Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday rejected any bilateral agreements on the status of the Caspian. He said the matter should be decided jointly by all five littoral countries. (Interfax)