International - India & World

India-Bangladesh maritime boundary talks inconclusive

DHAKA: The India-Bangladesh maritime boundary talks ended here on Wednesday without much progress, although both sides claimed that they had a technical discussion and the talks were “fruitful.”

During the three-day talks, held after 28 years, the two sides were not able to make any headway in minimising the old differences over two thorny issues — Bangladesh’s sovereignty claim over South Talpatti, which India calls Purbasha or New Moor island, and the claim on exclusive economic zones in the Bay of Bengal.

The leader of the Bangladeshi delegation, Additional Foreign Secretary M.A.K. Mahmood, told journalists on Wednesday: “Bangladesh and India have differences of opinion on the mid-flow of the Hariabhanga, a border river, which will be considered the borderline of the two next-door neighbours.”

Leader of the Indian team Rear Admiral B.R. Rao said, “We had a wonderful discussion... it was a technical meeting and more discussions would follow.”

According to Mr. Mahmood, the Indian side claimed the mid-stream flowed on the eastern side of the Hariabhanga, while Bangladesh claimed that it flowed on the western side as the river is located at the estuary near the disputed Talpatti island.

According to informed sources, Bangladesh reiterated its old position on delimitation of the sea boundary it took in 1980, when the two neighbours had a brief altercation and later held their first maritime boundary talks.

It is learnt that the expert committees that represented the two countries in the talks will now report to the higher authorities and then sit for further negotiations. However, no date for this was fixed.

Asked whether the talks had any positive outcome, both sides said the resumption of talks after 28 years itself was a progress.

“We have discussed all issues concerned with maritime boundary demarcation. We must say the talks were fruitful but we need further discussion,” Mr. Mahmood said.

Real Admiral Rao said, “We are technical delegations and our job is to find out each other’s positions. We have discussed many techniques and methodologies.”

Sea boundary demarcation has now become very important for offshore oil and gas exploration.

Bangladesh shares the Bay of Bengal with India and Myanmar but has not demarcated the sea territory with them and this is creating disputes mainly in offshore oil and gas explorations.

India and Myanmar need to solve the maritime boundary issues with Bangladesh as they are set to file their claim to the United Nations on June 29 and May 21, 2009, respectively.

Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Bangladesh too has to file its claim within July 27, 2011. It is learnt that the Indian side rejected Bangladesh’s proposal for a joint survey for the delimitation of maritime boundary to ensure equitable share in the Bay of Bengal waters.

Bangladesh and India discussed these issues for the first time in 1982 but without any positive results.

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