📋 Tender Overview
Communique No. 201
Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
October 29, 2025
| Statement
Mexico appears before the UN Boundary Commission to claim its extended continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico
The decisions of this Commission will allow the establishment of the outer limits of the continental shelf of our country in the Gulf of Mexico, which will be definitive, obligatory and enforceable against third States.
Mexico appeared today before the Commission on the Limits of the United Nations Continental Shelf (CLPC), in New York, where it presented the update of the technical and legal information on the extension of the Mexican continental shelf in the Eastern Polygon of the Gulf of Mexico.
This action represents a decisive step in the international process that will allow Mexico to set the outer limits of its continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico beyond 200 nautical miles, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
These external limits coincide with the maritime delimitations agreed with the United States of America and Cuba, respectively, through the signing of the respective boundary treaties signed in 2017.
With this, Mexico moves towards a priority objective: obtaining full international recognition of the limits of its continental shelf and exercising its sovereign rights over the resources of the marine soil and subsoil in that region of the Gulf of Mexico.
Mexicos presentation was given by the Legal Consultant of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pablo Arrocha Olabuenaga, who served as head of the delegation; engineer Francisco Javier Medina Parra, from INEGI; Captain Simitrio Morales Lopez of the Secretary of the Navy; geologist Natalia Amezcua Torres from the Mexican Geological Service and geologist Luis Salomon Mora from Petroleos Mexicanos, as well as Joel Hernandez from the Foreign Ministry.
These institutions have collaborated closely for more than a decade in the collection and analysis of technical information supporting the presentation.
Once the CLPC process is concluded, the outer limits of Mexicos continental shelf will be final, mandatory and, therefore, enforceable against third States. The success of this effort will provide Mexico with full legal certainty regarding the extension of its marine zones in the Gulf of Mexico.
The CLPC is a technical body established within the framework of UNCLOS. Its purpose is to facilitate the implementation of the Convention with respect to the establishment of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. Its main mandate is to examine the data and scientific information presented by States and formulate technical recommendations that allow these limits to be set definitively and obligatorily, thus contributing to legal certainty and the stability of the international order.
With this participation, Mexico, while advancing its national interests, reaffirms its commitment to multilateralism and international law, as well as recognizes the importance of UNCLOS and its bodies as pillars of maintaining peace, security, justice and the development of the international community.
