the sykes–picot agreement /ˈsaɪks piˈkoʊ/, officially known as the asia minor agreement, was a secret agreement concluded between the united kingdom and france in 1916. the main aim of the british and french was to agree on who should get which sphere of influence in ottoman territories in southwest asia. in this way, they wanted to limit competition between each other after the first world war and secure strategically important territories for themselves. the line separating their respective zones of influence was called the sykes-picot line. the russian empire and the kingdom of italy consented to the agreement, receiving a territorial advantage in return. the agreement was named after the two diplomats who negotiated it: the british diplomat mark sykes and the french diplomat françois georges-picot. they negotiated for five weeks, from the 23rd of november 1915 to the 3rd of january 1916, before agreeing on a memorandum. the agreement itself was concluded on the 9th and 16th of may 1916, when the british and french governments accepted and signed (ratified) the memorandum.