Dominican Republic and the Netherlands agree on their maritime delimitation
The Dominican Republic and the Netherlands signed an agreement that sets their maritime borders for the first time in the Caribbean, where there are Dutch possessions such as Aruba and Curaçao, both governments announced.
“The maritime delimitation agreement that establishes the border between the two parties in the Caribbean Sea”, announced a statement from the Dominican Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The sea has always been the link between our States (…). Today we write history with the signing of the Maritime Delimitation Agreement. This is an important event for security and development”, said the ambassador of the Netherlands, Annemieke Verrijp.
The Netherlands has several islands in the region: Aruba, Curaçao, Saint Martin, and the territories of Bonaire, Saint Eustatius, and Saba.
The Dominican Chancellery indicated that, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, “the parties will promote and facilitate the development and conduct of marine scientific research in their maritime areas and, if appropriate, they will be able to arrange as necessary”.
The Dominican Republic has six maritime borders, of which two had been previously defined: with Colombia (1978) and Venezuela (1979).
“Since then, we have not done it with any of the remaining four. Today the Dominican Republic and the Netherlands agreed on their maritime delimitation”, wrote the Dominican Foreign Minister, Roberto Álvarez, who signed the agreement with Ambassador Verrijp on Twitter.
Agreements are pending with the United States (Puerto Rico), Great Britain, which owns the Turks and Caicos Islands, and its neighbor on the island of Hispaniola, Haiti.
The Dominican Republic intends to dedicate the maximum possible attention and the necessary resources to establish maritime boundaries with the countries still pending and to harmonize local legislation with international law, added the statement from the Foreign Ministry.