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:: Analysis – Bangladesh’s boundary issues |
Demarcating Bangladesh's Maritime Boundary: Issues and Challenges
Bangladesh is yet to delimit its maritime boundary with its neighbours in Bay of Bengal, that is Myanmar on eastern side and India on its western side. Myanmar and India agreed on maritime territory between themselves but they need to solve the maritime boundary issues with Bangladesh. During the last quarter of 2008, this problem gained momentum in the area near 50 nautical miles southwest of the St. Martin Island when Myanmar sent four offshore exploration vessels (2 Bahamas registered and 2 Belize registered) escorted by 2 naval ships to facilitate the Korean Daewoo Company to explore the oil & gas resources.
The situation become complicated when the Bangladesh Navy also positioned three ships at the spot after the Myanmar side reportedly began oil and gas exploration in that area. Despite protests by Bangladesh, citing sovereignty issues, the Myanmar government said that it would continue exploration in the Bay of Bengal. It stopped the oil & gas exploration in deep-sea blocks in disputed waters, a day after Bangladesh asked China to mediate the issue. Myanmar however has claimed that withdrawal was not because of the Bangladesh request; apparently the Korean company had completed its seismic survey in Block AD-7. Although the tension has slowed down, the crisis is yet to be solved.
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