A high level delegation headed by National Security Advisor has departed to New York to present the Maldives’ claim for continental shelf limits to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.
Other members included in the Maldives delegation to UN are Attorney General Abdulla Muizzu, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Haula Ahmed Didi, Brigadier General Abdulla Shamal and Major Mohamed Ibrahim of Maldives National Defence Force.
The Maldives submitted its claim for continental shelf limits to the UN on 26 July 2010 in accordance with Article 76 (8) of the United National Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The Article states that “information on the limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured shall be submitted by the coastal state to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.”
The Maldives will present its claim to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf on 31 March 2011.