Bangladesh lodges claim with UN

Bangladesh finally submitted its claim over the extended continental shelf in the Bay of Bengal with the United Nations in New York Friday to establish its legitimate rights, the foreign ministry said Saturday. Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni officially lodged the country's claim, which ranges from 400 460 nautical miles in the sea bed of the Bay of Bengal. She presented the claim to the Division of Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea well ahead of the claim submission deadline of July 26, 2011. Neighbouring India, however, submitted its claim over the extended continental shelf in May 2009 and Myanmar in December 2008. "The sea bed has become an important area of economic interest for all nations and more so for a country like Bangladesh with limited resources and extensive development challenges," Dipu Moni said while presenting the country's claim. She also expressed her gratitude to the United Nations Trust Fund for offering assistance for Bangladesh's submission. The submission of the claim completes the outstanding obligation of Bangladesh under the provisions of the Article 76 of UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to provide scientific and technical information with the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in support of Bangladesh's rights beyond 200 nautical miles. Bangladesh held extensive consultations with Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) of Germany, GRID Arendal of Norway, and Centre for Coastal and Ocean Mapping of University of New Hampshire, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, USA for preparation of its submission, said a foreign ministry press release. Economic and Legal Section of Commonwealth Secretariat has provided legal and technical assistance in the final documentation of Bangladesh's submission. The country has also received advisory assistance from Dr Herald Brekke, a member of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf before submission of its maritime boundary claim. Earlier, Bangladesh lodged an arbitration taking the neighbouring India and Myanmar to the United Nations tribunal to settle the decades-long dispute over sea territory that has threatened its rights to explore gas in the hydrocarbon-rich Bay of Bengal. The country took the maritime boundary dispute to the compulsory arbitration under the UNCLOS for a peaceful settlement. The government said it took the maritime dispute to the UNCLOS "with a view to preserving our national wealth and sovereign rights in the Bay of Bengal." Bangladesh also kept the options for dialogue open for an amicable solution to the dispute, said a foreign ministry official. Meanwhile energy ministry officials said the government could not sign production sharing contracts (PSCs) with the bid winning two international oil companies (IOCs) even after three years of launching bidding round due to objections raised by India and Myanmar. Both India and Myanmar, which have made large gas discoveries in their parts of the Bay, lodged protests over Dhaka's move to grant exploration rights to the two companies, saying the three blocks overlapped their sea-territories. US oil company ConocoPhillips was awarded deep-sea block Nos 10 and 11 while Irish company Tullow got shallow-sea block No 5 for oil and gas exploration. The government launched the bidding in February 2008 as the country desperately requires making new gas discoveries to boost its economic growth. Petrobangla projected that the existing gas reserve will dry up by 2015 at the present rate of consumption unless new gas is discovered.