UN tribunal to arbiter Delhi-Dhaka maritime border depute

DHAKA - The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has nominated three judges to constitute an arbitration tribunal on the Bangladesh-India maritime boundary dispute.

The judges are Rudiger Wolfrum of Germany, Tullio Treves of Italy and Ivan Anthony Shearer of Australia. Wolfrum will preside over the tribunal.

Bangladesh has nominated Alan Vaughen Lowe, a former professor of international law at the University of Oxford, to be a member of the five-member arbitrary tribunal, while India has proposed the name of P. Sreenivasa Rao, a former legal adviser to the external affairs ministry.

Bangladesh and India prefer speedy resolution of the disputes over their maritime boundary, Bangladesh government sources said.

The ITLOS, with its headquarter in Germany, is an independent judicial body established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to adjudicate disputes arising out of the interpretation and application of the Convention.

The foreign ministry also started holding consultations with experts for preparation of the “memorial” for ITLOS for delimitation of the maritime boundaries.

“We have started holding consultations with all concerned for preparing the memorial (over maritime boundary disputes),” foreign minister Dipu Moni told the New Age newspaper Sunday after a meeting with local experts.

Bangladesh is sandwiched between neighbours India and Myanmar in the upper reaches of the Bay of Bengal that is estimated to have great potential for exploration of hydrocarbons.

Moni earlier said Bangladesh wanted to resolve the disputes on maritime boundaries with India and Myanmar in a time-bound manner.

“It is important for Bangladesh to have access to the natural resources in the Bay of Bengal for which delimitation of maritime boundaries between the neighbouring countries is essential,” she said.

Bangladesh has registered its objections with the United Nations to the claims of India and Myanmar last year as it (Bangladesh) had disputes over territorial waters in the Bay with both countries in two areas - natural prolongation of the continental shelf and the baseline.

According to the UNCLOS, Bangladesh must demarcate its sea boundaries by July 27, 2011, India by June 29, 2009 and Myanmar May 21, 2009. The three countries are signatories to the Convention.

As per the UN provision, claims submitted by any country would not be taken for final consideration before settling the objection raised by a neighbouring country which might have overlapping claims.

Bangladesh would, however, continue bilateral talks with the two countries for an amicable settlement of the disputes, the minister said.

During the official talks in New Delhi Jan 11, the prime ministers of Bangladesh and India, Sheikh Hasina and Manmohan Singh respectively, agreed on the need to “amicably demarcate the maritime boundary”, according to the joint communique issued after the visit of Bangladesh prime minister to India.