Australia and Timor-Leste have reached a breakthrough agreement on the maritime border (Photo: AFP/VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Australia and Timor-Lestehave reached a breakthrough agreement on the maritime border, ending adecade-old row between the two nations that has stalled a 40 billion USDoffshore gas project.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in TheHague, the Netherlands, announced on September 2 that the two neighbouringcountries in the South Pacific region achieved an agreement on the “centralelements of maritime boundary delimitation” in the Timor Sea.
The two nations agreed to establish a specialregime for the Greater Sunrise gas fields, paving the way for its developmentand sharing of the resulting revenue.
The Australian and Timor-Leste governments wereunanimous that the agreement reached on August 30, 2017, marks an importantmilestone in bilateral relations as well as historic friendship between theirpeople.
Australia and Timor-Leste started to discuss thesettlement of territorial disputes in 2002 when the latter separated fromIndonesia.
In 2006, the two sides signed some marine dealsin the Timor Sea.
The Greater Sunrise fields are estimated to hold144 billion cubic metres of gas and 226 million barrels of condensate, whichare worth up to 40 billion USD.-VNA
VNA
