Antara News, Friday, August 27, 2010 17:37 WIB | National
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia may get 4,000 square kilometers of additional water territory beyond its 200-mile maritime zone off Aceh Province`s western coast, a foreign ministry official said.
"Indonesia has been proposing recognition of its right to additional water territory west of Aceh province since 2008 on the basis of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea which says that a coastal country can claim a water territory outside its 200-mile maritime zone if it can prove geologically that the sediment in the proposed territory is similar to that inside its 200-mile maritime zone," said Havaz Oegroseno, director general for international treaties and laws at the foreign ministry here on Friday.
He said a joint team consisting of officers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Coordinating Agency for Land Surveys and Mapping (Bakosurtanal), Indonesian Navy, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) had conducted an initial study which showed that Indonesia had the potential right to expand its water territory namely in the west of Aceh province, south of Sumba island and north of Papua province.
"The claim was reported to the United Nations in 2008 and we have attended several meetings discussing this matter with UN representatives. The last meeting at sub-commission level which was held in New York from August 12-17 approved our claim on the waters in the west of Aceh province. A meeting at commission level will be held next week and hopefully by September 2010, Indonesia`s claim will have been fully approved," Havaz said.
According to the initial study, he said, many economic assets were contained in the 4000-square-kilometer water area in the west of Aceh province, namely polimetalic nodules (minerals useful for industrial purposes such as manufacture of mobile phone parts), minerals for biotechnological purposes and diamonds.
Specifically with regard to diamonds, Havaz could not yet confirm the existence of the precious stones in the claimed area since the Indonesian team still had to conduct a comprehensive survey on it.
"We cannot yet confirm the existence of diamonds there. However, according to the experience of several other coastal countries, diamonds are usually to be found outside the 200-mile maritime zones. We will do a full survey as soon as the UN commission approves our claim," he said.
