The Papua New Guinea – Solomon Islands Maritime Boundary Treaty is a 1989

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pe ...

in which

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

and the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

agreed to

delimit A delimiter is a sequence of one or more characters for specifying the boundary between separate, independent regions in plain text, mathematical expressions or other data streams. An example of a delimiter is the comma character, which acts ...

maritime boundary A maritime boundary is a conceptual division of the Earth's water surface areas using physiographic or geopolitical criteria. As such, it usually bounds areas of exclusive national rights over mineral and biological resources,VLIZ Maritime Boun ...

between the two states.Anderson, Ewan W. (2003). ''International Boundaries: A Geopolitical Atlas,'' p. 636. The agreement was signed on 25 January 1989. The text of the treaty sets out a roughly north–south

boundary Boundary or Boundaries may refer to: * Border, in political geography Entertainment * ''Boundaries'' (2016 film), a 2016 Canadian film * ''Boundaries'' (2018 film), a 2018 American-Canadian road trip film *Boundary (cricket), the edge of the pla ...

that is approximately long and is composed of a single straight-line

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prin ...

segment defined by two individual coordinate points. The boundary passes through the Bougainville Strait and the

Solomon Sea The Solomon Sea is a sea located within the Pacific Ocean. It lies between Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. Many major battles were fought there during World War II. Extent The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of ...

. The boundary represents a modified equidistant line between Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The southern coordinate point is the

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

with Australia. The treaty was under negotiation for 11 years prior to signing. In the end, the boundary that was settled on is roughly the same as the 1904 Anglo-German line created by the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and German Empire. The full name of the treaty is ''Treaty between the Independent State of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands Concerning Sovereignty, Maritime and Seabed Boundaries between the Two Countries, and Cooperation on Related Matters''. The treaty has not yet been

ratified Ratification is a principal's approval of an act of its agent that lacked the authority to bind the principal legally. Ratification defines the international act in which a state indicates its consent to be bound to a treaty if the parties inten ...

by the parties. In 1994, the two countries signed another treaty that set out principles in managing relations along the border, including provisions for unencumbered border crossing privileges for traditional inhabitants of the islands nearest to the maritime boundary.

Notes

References

* Anderson, Ewan W. (2003). ''International Boundaries: A Geopolitical Atlas.'' Routledge: New York.
OCLC 54061586
* Charney, Jonathan I., David A. Colson, Robert W. Smith. (2005). ''International Maritime Boundaries.'' Hotei Publishing: Leiden. ; ; ; ;
OCLC 23254092
Treaties concluded in 1989 1989 in the Solomon Islands 1989 in Papua New Guinea 1989 in Oceania Papua New Guinea–Solomon Islands border Treaties of Papua New Guinea Treaties of the Solomon Islands Boundary treaties Papua New Guinea–Solomon Islands relations United Nations treaties {{Solomons-stub