April 2, 2008, Dhaka: The two-day talks by the technical committees on the redrawing of the maritime boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar were finished in Dhaka on Tuesday without any major decision being reached, according to a report.
The two sides have agreed to carry out a joint survey of the sea boundary, and to meet in Rangoon sometime in June to reach a final decision.
MAK Mahmood, additional foreign secretary and chief of the Bangladesh delegation said, "We would meet again in Myanmar to resolve all issues."
"The process is to be continued and the dialogue between the two neighbors will go on. The agreement has not yet reached a consensus on all issues," said a Bangladesh official.
Bangladesh and Burma resumed the boundary talks after a break of 22 years. The two countries met on maritime borders to finalize their rights to the sea in the continental shelf under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Burma needs to delineate sea borders by 2009, per the UNCLOS, while Bangladesh will have to draw its borders by 2011.
The sea delimitation is important for both Bangladesh and Burma, as both countries have been planning to conduct oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal.
The ten-member Burmese team, led by Commodore Maung Oo Lwin, met with Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Secretary Md Touhid Hossain in his offices yesterday, and the Burmese team is expected to leave Dhaka to return home today.
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