By Mainul Islam Khan
DHAKA, Bangladesh
An international court has ruled in favor of Bangladesh in a decades-long maritime border dispute with India, it was announced Tuesday.
The ruling by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration awarded Bangladesh rights over a 19, 467 square kilometer area in the Bay of Bengal, which the country can now explore for natural resources. The ruling also restricted the area India can explore for gas and oil.
A statement released by India's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said India respects the verdict and is examining its implications.
"We believe that the settlement of the maritime boundary will further enhance mutual understanding and goodwill between India and Bangladesh by bringing to closure a long pending issue," said the statement. "This paves the way for the economic development of this part of the Bay of Bengal, which will be beneficial to both countries."
The decision was made on Monday but a 24-hour embargo meant the verdict could not be announced until Tuesday.
The demarcations between Bangladesh and its neighbours have been a matter of contention since the country's independence in 1971. Bangladesh began discussions with India over the maritime boundary in 1974 but there was a long hiatus in negotiations until 2008 and a year later, Bangladesh filed for arbitration.
Bangladesh and India have also been engaged in similarly-long negotiations about exchanging small territorial enclaves to ensure more easily distinguished land borders.
In 2012 the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, in Hamburg, also ruled in favor of Bangladesh in an abitration case over the Bay of Bengal boundary with Myanmar.
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