Philippines, Indonesia submit joint agreement on EEZ

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and Indonesia have jointly submitted to the United Nations certified copies of their 2014 agreement establishing the boundary between their overlapping exclusive economic zones (EEZs).

Also submitted by the two countries – represented by foreign affairs chiefs Teodoro Locsin Jr. for the Philippines and Retno Marsudi for Indonesia – were instruments of ratification of the agreement. UN Undersecretary-General for legal aff airs and legal counsel Miguel de Serpa Soare received the documents on Sept. 27 at UN headquarters in New York.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said the joint submission was a commitment made by the two foreign affairs chiefs after their ceremonial exchange of ratification instruments at the 52nd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Bangkok on Aug. 1.

The 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 Sept. 19 to 21. President Duterte ratified the agreement in February 2017, followed shortly by Senate concurrence. The Indonesian parliament ratified it in April of the same year.

Both countries are parties to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 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 EEZs.

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.