Tenth meeting of the Seychelles-Mauritius Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) taking place in Seychelles from the 5th to 7th May 2015
April 23, 2015
Seychelles will be hosting the 10th Meeting of the Seychelles-Mauritius Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) meeting from the 5th to the 7th May 2015 at the PetroSeychelles Conference Room, SEYPEC House, New Port Area, Victoria.
The meeting is a preparatory meeting for the 4th Joint Commissioners Meeting which will take place on Friday 8th PetroSeychelles Conference Room, SEYPEC House, New Port Area, Victoria.
Topics of discussion will include follow-ups of previous meetings, development of the strategic plan for the Joint Management of the area as well as make preparations for the first Ministerial Meeting.
These technical meetings are follow-ups of the treaties signed by the two countries.
Seychelles and Mauritius signed two treaties in 2012 to share the management of the continental shelf of the Mascarene Plateau to which Seychelles and Mauritius have now joint jurisdiction over an area of 396,000 square kilometres.
The first treaty proclaims the extended continental shelf outer limits in order to provide for its recognition under the respective national laws and for the extended purposes of international law which entails depositing the coordinates and charts showing the outer limit boundaries of the Extended Continental Shelf.
The second treaty provides an overarching framework for the establishment of a joint management (structure and mechanism) for the joint administration and management of the Extended Continental shelf which is to be proclaimed under the first treaty.
The Ministry of Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy would like to invite the media to the following events in relation to the meetings:
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Opening of the 10th Meeting of the Seychelles-Mauritius Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) on the 5th May 2015 at the PetroSeychelles Conference Room, SEYPEC House, New Port Area, Victoria at 9:00 am.
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Opening ceremony of the 4th Joint Commissioners Meeting which will take place on Friday 8th May 2015 at the PetroSeychelles Conference Room, SEYPEC House, New Port Area, Victoria at 9:00 am.
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A Press Conference following the 4th Commissioners Meeting on the 8th May 2015 at 5:45pm at the PetroSeychelles Conference Room, SEYPEC House, New Port Area, Victoria
Editor’s Note
Background on the two treaties
1. Discussions started in April 2002 when delegations of the two countries started to talk about the delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zones Boundary and the Continental Shelf beneath. This was concluded on 29th July 2008 when the Boundary Protocol was signed by the two countries here in Mauritius, following which the necessity to discuss our Extended Continental Shelf claim and boundary surfaced. Owing to the overlapping claims, Seychelles made an important historical resolve to delineate our extended continental shelf in the Mascarene Plateau Region jointly with the Republic of Mauritius.
2. The ratification of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) by our two indicate a time frame of ten years from the date of ratification to lodge submissions for an Extended Continental Shelf where such shelf exists in accordance with international law.
3. Seychellois technical teams conducted some twenty meetings alternately in Seychelles and in Mauritius followed by other meetings in New York to prepare the Joint Submission for the Extended Continental Shelf. This was lodged on 1st December 2008 with the Secretary General of the United Nations (within the time limit set in the Convention for our submission).
4. Following the joint formal presentation to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in March 2009 and subsequent dialogue during the years 2010 and 2011, the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf made positive recommendations to Seychelles and Mauritius on 30th March 2011. As such Seychelles and Mauritius joint jurisdiction over an area of 396,000 sq. kilometers of continental shelf (seabed and subsoil) located in the Mascarene Plateau Region was confirmed.