Maritime talks between Dhaka and Naypyidaw after 21 years

Maritime talks between Dhaka and Naypyidaw after 21 years
by -
Narinjara News
Dhaka:  After a 21-year hiatus in communications delegations from Burma and Bangladesh started discussing on Monday the maritime boundary between the two neighbouring countries in Dhaka, Bangladesh, stated an official report.
Dhaka:  After a 21-year hiatus in communications delegations from Burma and Bangladesh started discussing on Monday the maritime boundary between the two neighbouring countries in Dhaka, Bangladesh, stated an official report.

A bilateral committee tasked with redrawing the maritime border between Bangladesh and Burma met on Monday at the state guesthouse Padma for the first such talks in 21 years, the report said.

 
The Burmese delegation at the meeting is being led by Commodore Maung Oo Lwin, while the Bangladesh team is led by Additional Secretary to the Foreign Affairs Ministry MAK Mahmood.

The long-awaited talks between the two countries will last two days. The last meeting between Burma and Bangladesh on the issue took place in 1986. Prior to that, the two countries had discussed their mutual sea border eight times between 1974 and 1986.

The talks have come about after a disagreement about gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh authorities have accused Burma of planning gas exploration in several offshore blocks in Bangladesh waters.

The meeting also comes in the wake of increasing concern from Bangladesh over the exact location of its maritime border with its Southeast Asian neighbour as environmental issues are becoming increasingly important.

According to a Bangladesh Foreign Affairs report, Bangladesh will strongly present its rationale for the delimitation of the sea border to try and resolve the dispute.

The military government in Burma responded positively to Mahmood's request to discuss the matter during his visit to Rangoon last January.