REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia is currently preparing to apply to the UN for an extension of its exclusive economic zone from 200 to 350 sea miles in the north of Papua, an official stated.

"We expect to submit (the proposal) by the end of next year," Head of the Center of Territorial Boundary Mapping of the Geo-spatial Information Agency (BIG) Dr Khafid stated at the dissemination of geo-spatial information products for state and administrative area boundaries here on Wednesday.

Khafid added that for the purpose of submission, Indonesia had held talks with Papua New Guinea in 2013 regarding the continental shelf outside the 200 sea mile zone, north of Papua, which also borders Micronesia and Palau.

"The open sea can possibly be taken into consideration to increase the area under Indonesia's jurisdiction as long as it does not overlap with other countries' territories. Micronesia has already done it before," he said.

He announced that Indonesia has the right to make a submission on the extended continental shelf beyond the 200 sea mile zone, as a country who is a party to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea Treaty, which was ratified in 1982 through Law Number 17/1985.

Khafid also added that for the purpose of submission, an Indonesian team is currently pursuing negotiations with Micronesia. He said that negotiations with Palau should have ideally taken place this year, but they got postponed.

He admitted that the continental shelf outside the 200 sea mile zone that Indonesia has mentioned in its proposal to the UN is wider than the area it had proposed in 2010 in the west of Sumatra, but the precise measurement is still awaited for the final calculation.

"Based on a survey and study conducted by Indonesian experts and the submission to the UN in August 2010, the country was granted an additional area measuring 4,209 square kilometers in the western part of Aceh," he added.

Based on the survey results, there have been three potential locations for submission to the UN: the west of Sumatra, south of West Nusa Tenggara, and north of Papua, which measures several times bigger than the first submission.

He is hopeful that the submission areas under Indonesia's jurisdiction will increase and all natural resources under the area will be the exclusive right of the country.

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