Beirut, Apr 5 (IANS): Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe said that Beirut must negotiate with Syria about the demarcation of maritime borders, official media reported.

"Now is the right time for negotiations to demarcate maritime borders between Lebanon and Syria," Xinhua news agency quoted Wehbe as saying on Sunday.

Wehbe's comments came after the Syrian government signed last month with a Russian company a contract for oil exploration in the Mediterranean while grabbing a Lebanese area of 750 square km from Block No. 1.

"This is not an act of aggression but every state demands for its rights according to its perspective," Wehbe said, adding that negotiations must take place within the framework of international laws and the brotherly relations between the two countries.

Lebanese authorities did not previously react to Syria's plan to start exploration in Block No. 1 although the block set for exploration intersects with the Lebanese areas and results in a clear border dispute.