Bangladesh's prime minister has said Bangladesh will send a diplomatic protest note to the UN against the claim of neighboring India and Myanmar over extended continental shelf of the Bay of Bengal, local newspaper The Daily Star reported on Thursday.

The country's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made the remarks in the parliament on Wednesday when replying a query at the parliament session, the leading English-language newspaper said.

"Bangladesh's permanent mission at the UN is preparing the protest note in consultation with local and foreign experts and it will be submitted to the UN soon," Hasina said.

Besides Bangladesh, neighboring India and Myanmar have share over the Bay of Bengal. Hasina said the two countries have submitted their claims to the UN over the extended continental shelf on May 11 and Dec. 16 last year, according to The Daily Star.

The prime minister told the parliament Bangladesh would have to submit its claims to the UN over 150 nautical miles or more area beyond 200 nautical miles of the extended continental shelf of the Bay of Bengal by July 27, 2011.

"Bangladesh is making all preparations to submit its claims to the Commission on Limits of Continental Shelf (CLCS) of UN before the deadline," Hasina was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

The prime minister said the preparatory work is going on under supervision of the Foreign Ministry. The CLCS will make its recommendations after examining all facts, which is a time consuming matter, she said.

Hasina said Bangladesh has already declared 12 nautical miles of the Bay of Bengal as its territorial sea, 18 nautical miles as contiguous zone and 200 nautical miles as economic zone according to the Territorial Waters and Maritime Zones Act, 1974.

Hasina said the area of extended continental shelf claimed by Bangladesh is 29,000 square nautical miles. She said this conflicts with the claim of Myanmar and India reviewing their claims submitted to the UN, according to the report of The Daily Star.

Source: Xinhua