In 2009, Burma, also known as Myanmar, produced a variety of mineral commodities, including cement, coal, copper, lead, natural gas, petroleum, petroleum products, precious and semiprecious stones, tin, tungsten, and zinc. In 2009, Bangladesh, Burma, and India were involved in maritime boundary disputes over their respective sovereignty in the Bay of Bengal. In October, Bangladesh claimed its maritime boundary before the United Nations courts, under the arbitration of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982. The dispute amongst the three countries limits further exploration of resources in the disputed area. At the end of 2008, the situation intensified when Daewoo International Corp. of the Republic of Korea, which has a gas sale and purchase agreement with Burma, started oil and gas exploration in the disputed maritime zone, and Bangladesh and Burma each stationed naval warships and troops along their coastal borders. Daewoo was exploring offshore Burma at Block AD-7 as part of the agreement with Burma in which Daewoo was the main operator of a three-block project (Blocks A-1, A-3, and AD-7) (Burma News International, 2008; Choudhury, 2009). According to UNCLOS, a nation can claim 12 nautical miles of territorial sea, 200 nautical miles of exclusive economic zone, and 200 nautical miles of continental shelf (United Nations, 1982). In the case of Bangladesh, Burma, and India, their coastlines follow a curve, which causes overlaps in their maritime territories and makes it difficult to delimit their maritime boundary. Since 1974, Burma and India had aggressively explored their coasts, which resulted in the discovery of significant petroleum resources, including Burma?s discovery of 7 trillion cubic feet (198 billion cubic meters) of gas and India?s discovery of 100 trillion cubic feet (2 .8 trillion cubic meters) of gas in 2005-06 (Mizzima News, 2008; Choudhury, 2009). In 1974, after Bangladesh declared its jurisdiction with respect to territorial waters, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf as outlined in the Territorial and Maritime Zones Act of 1974, Burma held negotiation meetings with Bangladesh and India and subsequently with Bangladesh in 1986 but no consensus was reached. In December 1986, Burma and India signed a maritime territory agreement, which was later implemented in September 1987, that established the line of demarcation between the two countries? territories based on the principal of an equidistant boundary. In 2008, the three countries met again to settle the boundary dispute, but little progress was achieved, and the meetings ended inconclusively. In October 2009, Bangladesh submitted a notification requesting arbitration under the UNCLOS and was due to file a formal objection claim or a resolution claim before the United Nations by July 27, 2011, to contest Burma?s and India?s line of demarcation. Bangladesh demanded that the demarcation of the boundary be based on the equity principle, which results in overlapping maritime areas. Burma also holds maritime boundary agreements with Thailand that were signed in October 1980 and implemented in April 1982, and additional agreements between Burma, India, and Thailand that that were signed in October 1993 and implemented in May 1995 (Mizzima News, 2008; Choudhury, 2009)..."