Antara News, Tuesday, August 31, 2010 03:18 WIB
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian and Singapore governments have exchanged a Ratification Agreement Charter on Fixing the Sea Boundary of the Two Countries South of Singapore.
The charter agreement, according to the Foreign Ministry in Jakarta on Monday was ratified by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty M.Natalegawa and his Singapore counterpart George Yong-Boon Yeo at the Singapore foreign ministry.
The agreement was the product of eight rounds of negotiations between the two countries since 2005.
Under Article 5 of the Agreement, the exchange of the charter caused the agreement to become effective as of August 30, 2010.
On the occasion, the two foreign ministers also signed a Joint Submission Letter for depositing the agreement to the United Nations Secretary General.
The sea boundary agreed on under the agreement is the continuation of the sea boundary already agreed upon in the agreement between Indonesia and Singapore on the Sea Boundary signed on May 25, 1973.
The sea boundary between Indonesia and Singapore was fixed on the basis of international law, namely the 1982 Sea Law Convention, in which the two countries are part of the Convention.
In deciding on the sea boundary, Indonesia used its basic point reference in Nipa Island, and the basic lines of the Indonesian archipelago drawn from Nipa Island to Karimun Besar Island.
The basic lines are the basic lines of the archipelago whose coordinates are set in Law no 4/Prp/1960 on the Indonesian Waters which had been renewed by Government Regulation No 38/2002 and Government Regulation No 37/2008.
The coordinates are set by using the World Geodetic System of 1984 Datum (WGS 1984) and the lines connecting each of the coordinates: 1 (1:10/46.0/NL (North Latitude), 103:40/14.6/ EL (East Longitude); 1A (1:11/17.4/NL, 103:39/38.5/EL); 1B (1:11/55.5/NL, 103:34/20.4/EL); and 1C (1:11/43.8/NL, 103:34?00.0/EL).
The sea boundary in the western segment will make it easier for security personnel and shipping safety in operating in the Singapore Strait, because there is legal security on the sea boundaries of the two countries.
The negotiating technical team for the Indonesian maritime limit consists of representatives of ministries and sectoral representatives of the ministries and the relevent sectoral trans agencies namely the foreign ministry, defense ministry, Military Headquarters, Navy Headquarters, and the Navy`s Hidro-Oseanographic Agency.
The team also gets inputs from a team of experts comprising experts and academicians.
Now that the agreement had been ratified, the next step would be increasing bilateral cooperation in managing the border regions, including those related to navigational security issues, the environment, and the use of natural resources.
With the completion of the sea boundary in the western segment (Tuas/Nipa Island), there is still the eastern segment 1 and eastern segment 2 which need to be negotiated by the two countries.
The eastern segment 1 is the Batam/Changi and eastern segment 2 is the area around Bintan-South Ledge/Middle Rock/Pedra Branca which is still awaiting the result of further negotiations between Indonesia and Singapore.
The two foreign ministers agreed to immediately start the negotiations on the sea boundary in the eastern segment (Batam-Changi).
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