HOUSE OF THE WEEK
Warm single-storey house in Thingangyun
UNCOMPLICATED suburban living sums up this single-level house in Thingangyun township. The house is not overly spacious but there is a nice garden and lawn as compensation. more
End in sight for maritime border spat
(Volume 26, No. 510)
MYANMAR and Bang-ladesh are “on the right track” to reach an agreement on the demarcation of a maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh’s ambassador to Myanmar has told The Myanmar Times.
At a meeting held in Bangladesh in early January, the two countries agreed to settle the maritime boundary dispute – which has simmered since late 2008 – according to the principles of equidistance and equity of resources.
Bangladesh’s ambassador to Myanmar, Major General Anup Kumar Chakma, said the two sides would meet here “within the next two months” for follow-up technical meetings on demarcating the maritime boundary.
“We are on the right track,” Maj Gen Anup Kumar said. “I hope the dispute can be settled bilaterally and we are working on that.”
Tensions between the two sides spiked in November 2008 when two Myanmar warships and exploratory vessels owned by South Korea’s Daewoo Company entered the disputed AD-7 offshore block in the Bay of Bengal. Both countries claim rights to the block.
The AD-7 block borders the A-1 block, where Daewoo discovered natural gas deposits in 2004. Myanmar later reached an agreement to sell gas from the A-1 and A-3 blocks – collectively known as the Shwe fields – to China.
Last month, the director general of the Bangladesh Rifles, Md Mainul Islam, visited Myanmar to discuss border issues, such as security and management, transborder crimes and the smuggling of illicit drugs, with Myanmar officials in Nay Pyi Taw.
