Honduras, Cuba ink maritime border treaty

TEGUCIGALPA - Honduras and Cuba on Tuesday signed a maritime border treaty  define the boundaries of their territorial waters, the Honduran Foreign Ministry announced.

"The agreement concludes the negotiations on the sovereign rights of both governments in their respective exclusive economic zones in the Caribbean sea," said the Honduras Foreign Ministry in a statement.

The treaty was signed by diplomatic officials from the two nations who are currently in the central Honduran city of Comayagua.

"The signing of the treaty represents a significant advance in the relationship between the two nations, that guarantees their people the enjoyment of the renewable and nonrenewable natural resources found in the sea and under the sea under their sovereignty," the ministry said in a statement.

The Honduran government informed that the delimitation will be traced by a adjusted equidistance line between the Cuban islands and the Honduran islands, as it is established by international law.

The Honduran foreign minister Arturo Corrales added that Honduras would use the Swan Islands as a reference point, which are located out of the Caribbean sea, while Cuba would take as reference, the Isla de la Juventud and the Corrientes Cape, in the western province of Pinar del Rio.