Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to resolve the dispute between the Republic of the Maldives’s Economic Exclusion Zone and the British Indian Ocean Territory’s (a) Fisheries Conservation and Management Zone and (b) Environment (Protection and Preservation) Zone in negotiations with the Government of Mauritius.

As we outlined in our joint statement of 3 October 2024, following two years of negotiation with the intention of resolving all outstanding issues between the UK and Mauritius concerning the Chagos Archipelago, the UK and Mauritius reached political agreement which is subject to the finalisation in a treaty and connected legal instruments. The agreement will be supported by an enhanced partnership between the UK and Mauritius under which the UK will support Mauritius' ambitions to establish a Marine Protected Area (MPA) that protects the globally significant ecosystems in the Chagos Archipelago. The UK was not a party to the 2021 International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea case between Mauritius and Maldives.