However, maritime boundary disputes in themselves are far from rare.

Both countries submissions mentioned that neither has signed any maritime boundary delimitation agreements with any of its neighbouring states.

Both countries also have a continental shelf boundary agreement for this segment of their maritime boundary.

The two countries had been negotiating their maritime boundary since 1989.

Maritime boundary delimitation was necessary to facilitate law enforcement and resource management, and to avoid conflict, within the countries' overlapping two-hundred mile maritime zones.