Agreement on delimitation of continental shelf boundary between Vietnam and Indonesia

(Baonghean.vn) - Question 37. What is the content of the Agreement on the delimitation of the continental shelf boundary between Vietnam and Indonesia?

Reply:The coast of mainland Vietnam and the coast of Kalimantan, Indonesia, are about 474 nautical miles apart, the closest distance between the two islands is 246 nautical miles. Near Indonesia's North Natuna Island there is a trench about 80 to 100 meters deep.

Based on the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on determining the scope of the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, the two countries have an overlapping sea area and continental shelf that needs to be delimited.

In 1969, Indonesia declared the limits of its continental shelf based on the principle of the median line from the baseline of the Indonesian archipelago and the baselines of the relevant countries. In 1971, the Republic of Vietnam drew the boundary of its oil and gas concession on its continental shelf, based on the median line from the coast of Vietnam and the coast of Borneo Island, Indonesia. In 1972, Indonesia and the Republic of Vietnam conducted negotiations to delimit the overlapping sea area of ​​about 40,000km2.², formed by two median lines: the island-island median line and the shore-to-shore median line. In June 1978, Vietnam and Indonesia resumed negotiations to delimit the overlapping area of ​​about 98,000km², formed by the natural boundary (deep trench) and the island-island median line. Vietnam then proposed a new demarcation line, the "reconciliation line", located between the deep trench and the shore-shore median line, narrowing the overlapping area to 40,000km²After 10 rounds of expert-level negotiations, the overlapping area has been narrowed to about 4,500 km.².

After 2 rounds of Government-level negotiations, 10 rounds of expert-level negotiations, 12 rounds of informal negotiations, 4 small-scale discussions at the Head of the Expert Delegation level and 1 round of negotiations on nautical chart techniques, on June 26, 2003, the Agreement on the delimitation of the continental shelf between Vietnam and Indonesia was signed. The Agreement consists of 6 articles containing contents related to the location of the delimitation line, the nature of the delimitation line, the protection of the marine environment, the way to handle the structures of oil and gas fields or mineral fields lying across the delimitation line, and the way to peacefully resolve disputes through consultation or negotiation. The Agreement took effect from May 29, 2006.

According to Q&A on Vietnam's Law of the Sea

(To be continued)