Sea boundary verdict July 2
A Netherlands court is likely to deliver the verdict in the maritime boundary arbitration between Bangladesh and India on July 2, navy chief Vice Admiral M Farid Habib said yesterday.
He was talking to journalists after attending the Summer President Parade 2014 of the newly commissioned officers of Bangladesh Navy at Chittagong naval academy.
Once the verdict is made, Bangladesh will be able to explore natural resources in its sea territory without any dispute with India, noted the navy chief.
Bangladesh, he said, has already won a court's verdict on the maritime boundary dispute with Myanmar and established its rights on a vast area of the Bay of Bengal. So it is the navy's responsibility to safeguard the area and its resources, added Farid.
Highlighting the development and modernisation of the force in recent years, he said it is only a matter of time when submarines would be included in the navy to ensure security in the Bay.
Imran Hossain and Wali Mehfuz received the Navy Chief Award and Sword of Honour for their outstanding performances, while Zinat Raihan and Jamiul Huda Jeson won the BN Osmani Gold Award and BN Navy Chief Gold Award.
Bangladesh won a landmark verdict against Myanmar at the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea on March 14, 2012. Through this verdict, the country sustained its claims to a full 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone in the Bay, and also to a substantial share of the outer continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam on February 5 told parliament that Bangladesh expects to sustain its claim to 25,000 square kilometres of exclusive economic and territorial waters in the Bay of Bengal.
Bangladesh on October 8, 2009 had moved for an arbitration concerning its maritime boundary dispute with India and served an arbitration notice on the neighbouring country in this regard.
Efforts were made to settle the dispute through the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the capital of the Netherlands. The hearing in the arbitration ended in December last year when both the countries argued their cases before the court.
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