Timor Sea Treaty

The signatories of the treaty were then Australian prime minister John Howard and his East Timorese counterpart at that time Mari Alkatiri.

[1] The treaty entered into force on 2 April 2003, following an exchange of diplomatic notes and was backdated to 20 May 2002.

The treaty was to run for 30 years from the day it came into force or when a seabed boundary could be established, whichever came earlier.

[2] The Timor Sea Treaty provides for the sharing of the proceeds of petroleum found in an agreed area of seabed, called the Joint Petroleum Development Area and does not determine the sovereignty and maritime boundary between the two countries.

The treaty expressly states that the right of either country to claim the overlapping portion of the seabed is maintained.