The verdict in the maritime boundary dispute between Bangladesh and India would be delivered on July 2, said Naval chief Vice-Admiral M Farid Habib yesterday.
“The dispute between Bangladesh and Myanmar is over and I hope the dispute with India will also be resolved in July,” he told reporters after attending a parade at the Patenga Naval Academy in Chittagong.
“After the verdict, our initiative to explore gas and oil in the Bay of Bengal will be expedited,” he said.
When contacted, Khurshed Alam, secretary to the Maritime Affairs Unit at the Foreign Ministry, however, said: “We are yet to get any official date for the verdict from the court.”
Bangladesh instituted the arbitral proceedings concerning the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Bangladesh and India on October 8, 2009 where the Permanent Court of Arbitration acts as Registry in the arbitration.
Meanwhile, a press release of the Inter-Services Public Relations said it was just a matter of time that submarines would be added to the Bangladesh Navy fleet.
“According to the long-term vision of the government to ensure maritime security, it is a just a matter of time to induct submarine with base,” said Navy chief Farid Habib at the Naval Academy parade. On March 1, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said two submarines would be inducted in Bangladesh Navy by 2015 to build it as a three dimensional force.
She also said the issue of construction of a submarine base was under process. Two new frigates – Abu Bakar and Ali Haider – procured from China were commissioned on the same day.
Under the modernisation plan for the navy, two large patrol craft with missiles, two frigates and a Coast Guard cutter were inducted in the force.
Vice Admiral Farid said: “Five patrol craft were made for the first time at the Khulna Shipyard and a process is ongoing to build two LPCs.”