Bangladesh-Myanmar-Disputes
Bangladesh and Myanmar have pledged to resolve their disputes over maritime borders in the quickest possible time, said Bangladesh Foreign Ministry Thursday.

"We discussed issues of common interest including resolving the issue of maritime boundaries at the soonest," said a statement issued in Dhaka, quoting foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury as saying after a meeting with his Myanmar counterpart U Nyan Win in Singapore yesterday, zeenews portal reported.

The two had met on the sidelines of an ASEAN Regional Forum meeting.

The statement said Bangladesh and Myanmar experts on sea-related issues met in Dhaka early this year and decided to hold another round of talks on the issue in Yangon to resolve the dispute.

Officials earlier said maritime border demarcation now appeared crucial as a UN set deadline for lodging maritime claims is to expire in next three years exposing Bangladesh to risks of losing a vast territory in the Bay of Bengal.

Bangladesh needs to lodge claims over its maritime boundary at the International Seabed Authority by 2011 as per the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Under the convention, Bangladesh was required to submit necessary documents to the UN to validate its claim on territorial water, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) up to 200 nautical miles (nm) and continental shelf up to 350 nm from the baseline.

Bangladesh has pending maritime boundary disputes with India too.