Bangladesh will hold talks with neighbouring India and Myanmar later this month to resolve the outstanding maritime boundary disputes as a UN set deadline for lodging maritime claims is set to expire in next three years.
Bangladesh foreign ministry officials said a eight-member Delegation will left Dhaka on Tuesday for Yangon on a three-day meeting from Thursday and will hold talks with India in the third week of this month in Dhaka after a lapse of 28 years to discuss boundary issues.
"We are in the final stage of our preparation to put forward our claim to the United Nations and hope to conclude it very soon," additional foreign secretary MAK Mahmood, who leads the team, told reporters ahead of their departure on Tuesday.
Officials said Myanmar's Deputy foreign minister General Moung Myint would lead the home side in the third round of technical level discussions after its resumption in January.
Dhaka and Yangon earlier pledged to resolve disputes over their maritime borders in the quickest possible time as foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury held a meeting with his Myanmar counterpart Nyan Win in Singapore last month.
Bangladesh and Myanmar experts on sea-related issues met in Dhaka earlier this year and decided to hold another round of talks on the issue in Yangon this year to resolve the dispute.
{{/usCountry}}Bangladesh and Myanmar experts on sea-related issues met in Dhaka earlier this year and decided to hold another round of talks on the issue in Yangon this year to resolve the dispute.
{{/usCountry}}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.