Dhaka, Yangon begin talks over disputed maritime boundary

Jan 8, 2010, 12:20 GMT

Dhaka - Bangladesh and Myanmar on Friday began talks on the demarcation of their disputed maritime boundary, officials said

The lack of a clear boundary caused tension between the two neighbours over offshore hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay of Bengal in 2008.

'We have discussed the processes of delineating the maritime boundary,' Bangladesh's Additional Foreign Secretary Md Khurshid Alam said after the first day of the two-day talks in Chittagong.

Deputy Foreign Minister U Maung Myint is leading Myanmar's delegation at the talks, which are due to resume Saturday.

This is the first such meeting since Bangladesh lodged a complaint with the United Nations arbitration court in October 2009 to resolve the dispute with neighbouring Myanmar and India over territorial waters.

Bangladesh, however, kept open the option of bilateral discussions to settle the disputes.

Myanmar and Bangladesh resumed talks on maritime boundary demarcation in 2008 after a gap of 22 years, but failed to resolve the dispute.

The earlier dialogue took place against the backdrop of movements of warships in the Bay of Bengal by both the countries following Myanmar's alleged intrusion into Bangladesh's territorial waters for oil and gas exploration.

The tension was defused through diplomatic efforts initiated by Dhaka.

Both sides agreed at that time that neither of the sides would pursue oil and gas exploration in the disputed areas of the mineral-rich bay until their boundaries are demarcated according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Bangladesh Foreign Ministry officials say Bangladesh, India and Myanmar cannot exploit the full benefits of their oil and gas reserves in the Bay due to claims and counter-claims to the offshore gas blocks.

Out of Bangladesh's total of 27 offshore gas blocks, Myanmar and India have made overlapping claims on at least 18 blocks in the complicated maritime geography, they said.