巴林与沙特阿拉伯大陆架划界暨资源共享谈判及其意义

The Negotiations between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia on the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf and Resource Sharing

在国际社会高度重视海洋油气资源以及大陆架划界成为国际社会热点问题的背景下,巴林与沙特阿拉伯两国围绕岛礁归属、大陆架划界原则等问题进行了较长时间的谈判,最终达成了划界协定,并确定了一个资源收益共享区块。该协定得以达成的重要原因,在于双方均缺乏主张权利的充分证据。因而,两国从各自的国情和国家友好的现实出发,做出了必要的让步。尽管该协定中关于资源共享的安排因其自身的独特性,不能被称为严格意义上的共同开发协定,但它对于此后国际社会的共同开发实践,仍起到了重要的先导性作用。

As the international society was increasingly aware of the value of marine oil-gas resources,delineation of the continental shelf became a hot issue. In this context,Bahrain and Saudi Arabia held prolonged negotiations on bilateral issues,including the ownership of islands and reefs and the delineation of continental shelf. They finally reached an agreement on delineation and designated a region for sharing marine resource. Although in meting out the original claims,both sides lacked juristic precedence,they agreed on a compromise based on considerations of domestic situation and international relations,paving the way for a final settlement of the issue. Due to the ad hoc nature of the agreement, however, it cannot be considered a real agreement in a rigorous legal sense.Nonetheless,it provides an example for future settlements of similar disputes.