Dhaka: Bangladesh today decided to seek
resolution of its maritime disputes with India and Myanmar in
an international tribunal through arbitration, saying the
current negotiations with the neighbours were unlikely to
settle the issue in the near future.
"We have decided to go for international arbitration
in line with the provisions of UNCLOS (United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea) as the ongoing discussions
with India and Myanmar could not yield the expected results
yet," Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told reporters here.
She said "resource scarcity" and "immediate need for
maritime resource exploration" prompted Dhaka to take the
decision in an attempt to quicken resolution of the dispute
that barred the country from taking steps for full scale
search for hydrocarbon in the Bay of Bengal.
The Minister spoke to the media after Indian High
Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty and Myanmar Ambassador
Phae Thann Oo were summoned to the foreign office to inform
them the government`s decision in this regard.
Moni, however, said the ongoing negotiations on
bilateral basis would continue simultaneously and felt that
the process would not affect friendly relations with the two
neighbours, particularly the "time tested" ties with New
Delhi.
Bureau Report
