PH, Indonesia Jointly Submit 2014 EEZ Boundary Agreement to UN

The Philippines and Indonesia made an official joint submission to the United Nations of an agreement establishing the boundary between their overlapping exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and respective instruments of ratification in New York on 27 September 2019.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. and Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi submitted certified copies of the 2014 agreement and ratification instruments to UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and UN Legal Counsel Miguel de Serpa Soares in simple ceremonies at the UN Headquarters in New York.

The official joint submission made good on the commitment by both countries to do so following a ceremonial exchange of ratification instruments by the two foreign ministers at the 52nd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Bangkok on 01 August 2019, which effectively put into force the bilateral maritime border delimitation agreement.

This commitment was confirmed by the delegation heads of both countries at the 10th Joint Permanent Working Group on Maritime and Ocean Concerns held in Yogyakarta on 19-21 September 2019.

The Agreement, which was first discussed in June 1994, was formally signed by the two states in May 2014 in Manila. It was ratified by President Rodrigo Duterte in February 2017 and by the Indonesian Parliament in April 2017. The Philippines completed its two-step domestic procedure in June when the Philippine Senate concurred with the executive ratification.

Both countries are parties to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and are entitled to EEZs of 200 nautical miles. Under the convention, states have sovereign rights to explore and exploit, and conserve and manage natural resources, within their EEZ.

The Philippines and Indonesia have overlapping EEZs in the Mindanao and Celebes Seas, and in the southern section of the Philippine Sea in the Pacific Ocean.

The meeting in Yogyakarta, chaired by Assistant Secretary for Maritime and Ocean Affairs Generoso DG Calonge and Indonesian Director for Legal Affairs and Territorial Treaties Bebeb AKN Djundjunan, also reaffirmed a bilateral commitment to work on the next step to implement the agreement, which is to finalize and jointly co-produce nautical charts.

The National Mapping and Resource Information Authority of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and its Indonesian counterpart, the Geospatial Information Agency and the Hydro-Oceanographic Office of the Indonesian Navy, are expected to meet soon to determine the actual delineation of the sea points and geodetic lines between the two countries.

The agreement is expected to benefit both countries, economically and politically, by promoting more bilateral cooperation in order to advance the common interest of managing and preserving the resources in the EEZ and further strengthening maritime security cooperation between the two countries. (DFA PR)