Bangladesh\\\'s maritime boundary extends

The judgment delivered by the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) on the maritime demarcation between Bangladesh and India has happily been hailed by both countries. Although, the verdict has largely gone in favour of Bangladesh with the PCA upholding its claim of 'equitable' instead of 'equidistance' solution, this has been dubbed a victory of friendship, a 'win-win situation for the people(s) of Bangladesh and India', as Bangladesh foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali aptly put it. Some have justifiably claimed that from right now the country's map becomes full and complete. The verdict awards Bangladesh an area of 19, 467 sq km out of the total disputed 25,602 sq km. Thus more than one-third of the country's earlier total territorial area adds up to it allowing Bangladesh to exclusively exercise its sovereign rights on 118,813 sq km of waters extending up to 12 nautical miles of territorial sea and a further exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles into the high sea.

It surely is a vast area and the commercial and economic interests together with environmental stakes there warrant proper protection and security. Currently wooden boats can venture up to 20 nautical miles and the motorised trawlers up to another 20 nautical miles accounting for a total catch of 6.0 million fish from the Bay annually. Now that the country's right has been established on the deep sea marine resources up to 200 nautical miles into the high sea, the prospect of catch will be many times more. But Bangladesh is yet to come to term with deep sea fishing. It will have to procure the right types of vessels, nets and equipment. Similarly, the majority of the oil blocks under the seabed have come under the jurisdiction of Bangladesh. All 10 disputed blocks this time have been awarded to Bangladesh. Earlier, under the arbitration of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the country received 12 out of the 17 blocks which both Myanmar and Bangladesh claimed.

Clearly, Bangladesh's case received patient hearing both at the PCA and the ITLOS. Now Bangladesh will no longer have to get worried over its easy access to the sea. Had both India's and Myanmar's arguments got the better of Bangladesh's, this country would have only a narrow strip to get out to the sea. This latest diplomatic success places Bangladesh in a far advantageous position, so far as territorial waters are concerned. With the expansion of its maritime boundary, the country should now make a comprehensive plan for beefing up its naval power in order to protect its marine resources and fishing vessels over the vast area it has received. Also the country is now better placed to invite reputed foreign companies for exploration of oil and gas in the blocks within its maritime zone. Deficient in natural resources, the country may go through a rapid transition if large oil and gas reserves under its seabed are struck. Such a prospect is quite bright and in that case Bangladesh's economic transformation for the better too is very much on the cards.