South Asia News
Myanmar: Fencing on Bangladesh border not "defence structure"
Mar 31, 2009, 12:29 GMT
Dhaka - Myanmar said Tuesday that its planned fencing on its border with Bangladesh was not a 'defence structure' and would be placed away from the border.
'It's not a defence structure,' Myanmar Ambassador Phae Thann Oo told reporters in Dhaka after a meeting with Bangladesh's junior minister for foreign affairs, Hasan Mahmud. 'It is for the prevention of smuggling of narcotics and trafficking in persons.'
The ministry had summoned the Myanmar envoy for an explanation of his country's planned fencing, fearing it would violate international boundary norms.
The ambassador said Yangon was constructing a 60-kilometre-long barbed wire fence on the 180-kilometre border with Bangladesh.
A Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Ministry official said there was nothing wrong with the construction because the envoy said the fencing was a minimum of 100 metres inside Myanmar.
The construction of the barbed-wire fence would not worsen relations between Bangladesh and Myanmar, the official added.
In November, Dhaka protested an intrusion by Myanmar ships exploring for oil and gas in Bangladesh's territorial waters in the Bay of Bengal.
Multipronged diplomatic efforts by Dhaka involving China and South Korea forced Myanmar to pull out its exploration ships after nearly two weeks of tensions.
Both Bangladesh and Myanmar sent warships into the disputed waters at the time.
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