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SUBJECT [Apr 25] Boao Forum for Asia, Speaker of Lebanese Parliament says Beirut is prepared to demarcate maritime border with Israel, US announces it will not reissue extensions for Iranian sanction exceptions
DATE 2019-04-25
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PHOTO: BFA. LI Keqiang, Premier of the People’s Republic of China, delivered a keynote speech at the Opening Plenary of the BFA Annual Conference 2019

 

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte welcomed the very first Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in Manila on Monday night describing it as reflective of support for enhanced relations between the Philippines and China as well as East regional cooperation.

 

Duterte failed to attend the forum as he was “not feeling well” but Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea read the President’s speech for him, thanking former Presidents Fidel Ramos and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, now House Speaker, for taking the initiative to bring the conference to Manila.

 

“The decision to hold this conference here in Manila is indeed a welcome development as it reflects the international community’s growing support for and confidence in Philippines-China relations and East Asian regional cooperation,” Duterte said in his speech read by Medialdea at Shangri-La, The Fort, Taguig City.

 

“I am pleased that through the efforts of my predecessors — President Ramos being a founding father and President Arroyo currently serving as a member of its board — the Boao Forum has become instrumental in charting the course of the Philippine economy in this era of globalization and regional integration,” he added.

 

Duterte expressed hope that the holding of the Boao Forum will forge stronger consensus as the Philippines prepares to further strengthen regional cooperation through China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

“The Philippines is hopeful that as we bring the BFA in Manila we can further build on previous discussions with our partners who we may forge deeper consensus as we strengthen regional cooperation through the Belt and Road Initiative…The BFA has become instrumental in charting the course of the Philippine economy in this era of globalization and regional integration,” Medialdea said.

The President is set to join other heads of states in Beijing for the 2nd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on April 25 this year.

 

 

PHOTO: IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook. A maritime map of the eastern Mediterranean showing Exclusive Economic Zone borders, including an area of dispute (marked 4) between Israel and Lebanon.

 

On April 23, the Speaker of Lebanon’s parliament said that Beirut is prepared to demarcate its maritime border with Israel, a move that could resolve an ongoing oil and gas dispute between the two neighboring countries, which are still technically at war.

 

Speaker of the parliament Nabih Berri told the head of the UN peacekeeping force deployed to southern Lebanon that “we are ready to draw Lebanon’s maritime borders and those of the Exclusive Economic Zone using the same procedure that was used to draw the Blue Line under the supervision of the United Nations,” according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

 

The Blue Line is the land border between Israel and Lebanon as drawn by the UN after Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000. Beirut disputes part of the border, and claims an area known in Israel as Mount Dov and in Lebanon as the Shebaa Farms.

 

During Tuesday’s meeting, Major Stefano Del Col expressed optimism that the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) could help resolve the dispute over ownership of a roughly 860 square kilometer (332 square mile) triangular patch of the Mediterranean Sea.

 

The triangle meets at Rosh Hanikra on the Israeli-Lebanese border, and fans out into Cypriot economic waters. Recently discovered oil and gas reserves in that area of the Mediterranean are predicted to generate up to $600 billion over the next few decades.

 

The long-standing dispute resurfaced last year, when Lebanon signed a deal with an international consortium to start exploratory offshore drilling in 2019.

 

In response, the Knesset advanced the Maritime Areas Bill, legislation that would formalize the maritime border between the two countries, and that gave Israel rights to a potentially lucrative patch of sea.

 

 

 

PHOTO: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images. An Iranian laborer works on the platform of the oil facility on Kharg Island off the coast of Iran.

 

On April 22, 2019, the United States announced it will not reissue Significant Reduction Exceptions (SREs) when they expire in early May.

 

India, China, Turkey, Greece, Italy, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan have been given 6-month reprieves from the unilateral US sanctions on Iran and will be affected by this decision. Greece, Italy, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan have already substantially reduced their purchases from Iran.

 

“The decision is intended to bring Iran’s oil exports to zero, denying the regime its principal source of revenue,” the White House said in a statement. “The Trump administration and our allies are determined to sustain and expand the maximum economic pressure campaign against Iran to end the regime’s destabilizing activity threatening the United States, our partners and allies and security in the Middle East,” it said.

 

Oil prices rose following the announcement: benchmark US crude surged by 2.4% to $65.57 per barrel in New York, and Brent crude jumped by 2.6% to $73.80.

 

The White House said that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would make up the difference in oil to ensure that global markets were not unsettled.

 

Following the US announcement, Iran described the sanctions as illegal. "Since the sanctions in question are principally illegal, the Islamic Republic of Iran did not and does not attach any value or credibility to the waivers," the Foreign Ministry said on its official website.

 

Turkey also said it would not respect the sanctions on oil imports from Iran. "We do not accept unilateral sanctions and impositions on the issue of how we will establish relations with our neighbours," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by the state news agency Anadolu. Cavusoglu warned that the US move to end exemptions "will not serve regional peace and stability."

 

 

 

BY MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr)