SVG, Barbados set delimitation of maritime boundary

On Monday, August 31, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves and Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart signed an agreement between their governments on the Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Barbados and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.{{more}}

The Agreement establishes a single maritime boundary for delimitation of the maritime space between the two islands. SVG shares maritime boundaries with Barbados, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.

The maritime boundary delimitation agreement incorporates the spirit and principles in the Revised Treaty of Basseterre, establishing the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Economic Union, and compliments the OECS Eastern Caribbean Regional Ocean Policy and Three-Year Strategic Action Plan which was approved by the OECS Authority at its 58th Meeting in June 2013.

The delimitation of SVG’s maritime boundaries with neighbouring States is being undertaken with an overall framework of national ocean governance, and falls squarely within Strategic Objective 1.11 of the National Economic and Social Development Plan 2013 – 2025, which aims “to optimize the economic contribution made by ocean resources.”

The Commonwealth Secretariat, through the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation, has been providing support to SVG and other OECS Member States since the mid 1990s for delimitation of maritime boundaries. The support began afresh in 2010, and now includes ocean governance, which addresses all matters within the maritime jurisdiction of the State, in accordance with international law.