Protracted Maritime Boundary Dispute Resolutions in the Bay of Bengal: Issues and Impacts

Abstract

This paper seeks to address the issues and impacts of protracted maritime boundary dispute resolutions between Bangladesh, Myanmar, and India in the Bay of Bengal. The dispute was about a four decades longstanding dispute between these neighboring coastal states. The Bay of Bengal is the largest bay in the world. Maintaining a stable relation among its coastal partners is of key importance for a peaceful coexistence among the countries of the south-east Asian region. Although the disputes have been successfully resolved a few years ago, no research has been done regarding the reasons for the protracted dispute resolution process and the impacts of these long-term disputes. The present study attempts to identify the issues that contributed to the delayed resolution, and the impacts of this protracted settlement in the Bay of Bengal. In addition, this paper provides some recommendations based on the identified issues and impacts through conducting personal interview with relevant stakeholders for the rapid settlement of present and upcoming maritime boundary disputes between different coastal states.