Expect UN nod for India's extended EEZ claim: Kumar

VASCO-DA-GAMA: India on Saturday voiced confidence that the UN Commission on Law of Seas would soon give approval for the nation's claim to almost double its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) limit from 200 to 350 nautical miles.

Under the provision of UNCLOS, a coastal country can seek an extension of the EEZ beyond the approved 200 nm, if it can demonstrate the continental shelf of the country extends beyond that distance through the continental shelf or the sea bed.

India submitted its claim to the UN commission in August last year, producing 6000 pages of data which were collected over the period of almost a decade, Minister of State for Earth Sciences Ashwini Kumar said here.

He was talking to reporters here after interacting with Indian scientists stationed at its missions in Antarctic through video-conferencing. The Minister is on a five day-long tour of scientific institutions in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Goa.

Today, he visited the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) in Goa.

He also talked to Indian scientists stationed at Arctic on phone and applauded their efforts for making India a pioneering nation in the research of Polar Regions.

"We are among those few countries which have been able to give evidence to lay its claim over the extended continental shelf around it. We presented our claim before the UN Commission last year along with the scientific data collected over a decade," he said.