November 18, 2008	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 19, 1429

DHAKA, Nov 17: The two-day maritime boundary delimitation talks between Bangladesh and Myanmar ended inconclusively on Monday as both sides refused to change their stance on the method to mark the coastline of the exclusive economic zone in the Bay of Bengal.

Dhaka had argued for equity as a basis to resolve the dispute while Yangon insisted that an equidistance basis should be the guiding principle — the same stance the two neighbours have stuck to since negotiations began in 1974.

“Myanmar proposed a corridor in the Bay and we have rejected it since we feel that equity should be the guiding method to settle the issue under the UN convention on the 1982 Law of the Sea,” additional foreign secretary M.A.K. Mahmood told reporters at the end of the meeting at the foreign ministry.

The Mynmar delegation, led by Deputy Foreign Minister, Maung Moyint, refused to comment on the outcome of the two-day talks. The negotiations had resumed in January after a lapse of more than two decades.

Yangon had deployed naval ships to support exploration works by a South Korean company in Bangladesh’s waters early this month, prompting Dhaka to send warships and alert its navy against such intrusion.

Dhaka’s multi-pronged diplomatic efforts helped calm the situation, but Yangon did not positively respond to a proposal to refrain from oil and gas exploration until the maritime disputes are over.