UNB, Dhaka :
The Cabinet on Monday adopted a thanksgiving motion on the recent maritime boundary verdict over India congratulating the Prime Minister and the individuals and authorities concerned for gaining huge 19,467 square kilometres of maritime areas in the Bay of Bengal.
The formal proposal was taken at the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said that the Prime Minister gave directives to all concerned to make highest coordinated efforts for extracting marine resources from the vast maritime areas gained in the Bay.
Ministry of Energy, Power and Mineral Resources, and Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock are directly related in this regard.
The Cabinet Secretary informed that the Cabinet also gave nod to a proposal from the Foreign Ministry to publish a gazette notification highlighting the huge gain of marine areas through the arbitral tribunal verdict over India as was done on the maritime boundary verdict over Myanmar.
He said that, the Prime Minister is likely to hold a press conference over the recent Arbitral Tribunal verdict over India where she would give details about the matter.
Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said, Bangladesh has benefited over the verdict as it had emphasized gaining its just rights based on equity principle instead of equidistance principle.
Bangladesh has finally gained some 19,467 square kilometres of maritime areas in the Bay of Bengal out of the disputed 25,602 square kilometres (approximately) with neighbouring India, raising the prospect of exploring huge maritime resources.
With this verdict, Bangladesh has finally won more than 118,813 square kilometres of waters comprising territorial sea, exclusive economic zone extending out to 200 nautical miles across sizable area, and also have ‘undeniable’ sovereign rights in the seabed extending as far as 354 nautical miles from Chittagong coast in the Bay of Bengal with all the living and non-living resources.
The award by the arbitral tribunal, which cannot be appealed, is binding on both states.
The verdict brings to an end the arbitral process that was commenced by Bangladesh in respect of Myanmar and India under the UNCLOS in 2009.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali officially disclosed the verdict at a crowded press conference at the Foreign Ministry on July 8.
The previous victory for Bangladesh came on 14 March 2012 when the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Homburg delivered the judgment in the maritime boundary case with Myanmar.
Ministers and State Ministers attended the cabinet meeting while the secretaries concerned were present.
The Cabinet on Monday adopted a thanksgiving motion on the recent maritime boundary verdict over India congratulating the Prime Minister and the individuals and authorities concerned for gaining huge 19,467 square kilometres of maritime areas in the Bay of Bengal.
The formal proposal was taken at the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said that the Prime Minister gave directives to all concerned to make highest coordinated efforts for extracting marine resources from the vast maritime areas gained in the Bay.
Ministry of Energy, Power and Mineral Resources, and Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock are directly related in this regard.
The Cabinet Secretary informed that the Cabinet also gave nod to a proposal from the Foreign Ministry to publish a gazette notification highlighting the huge gain of marine areas through the arbitral tribunal verdict over India as was done on the maritime boundary verdict over Myanmar.
He said that, the Prime Minister is likely to hold a press conference over the recent Arbitral Tribunal verdict over India where she would give details about the matter.
Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said, Bangladesh has benefited over the verdict as it had emphasized gaining its just rights based on equity principle instead of equidistance principle.
Bangladesh has finally gained some 19,467 square kilometres of maritime areas in the Bay of Bengal out of the disputed 25,602 square kilometres (approximately) with neighbouring India, raising the prospect of exploring huge maritime resources.
With this verdict, Bangladesh has finally won more than 118,813 square kilometres of waters comprising territorial sea, exclusive economic zone extending out to 200 nautical miles across sizable area, and also have ‘undeniable’ sovereign rights in the seabed extending as far as 354 nautical miles from Chittagong coast in the Bay of Bengal with all the living and non-living resources.
The award by the arbitral tribunal, which cannot be appealed, is binding on both states.
The verdict brings to an end the arbitral process that was commenced by Bangladesh in respect of Myanmar and India under the UNCLOS in 2009.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali officially disclosed the verdict at a crowded press conference at the Foreign Ministry on July 8.
The previous victory for Bangladesh came on 14 March 2012 when the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Homburg delivered the judgment in the maritime boundary case with Myanmar.
Ministers and State Ministers attended the cabinet meeting while the secretaries concerned were present.
