Cabinet approved that an amount of USD6.4 million be used for the conclusion of phase two of the project on the delineation of Namibia’s continental shelf and mandates the Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation to negotiate and conclude an agreement with the Brazilian Navy or other institutions to execute the second phase of the project. Cabinet also considered the conclusion of all outstanding issues regarding maritime boundaries between Namibia and her immediate neighbours, being Angola and South Africa. This is necessary because the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will not consider areas that are not agreed upon with the adjacent neighbours.

According to the Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Namibia signed an agreement with Brazil on the Delineation of Namibia’s Continental Shelf in February 2002. The Brazilian consultants working on the project visited Namibia thrice to collect existing data on the continental shelf and to hold workshops on their findings. The last workshop on the Delineation of the Namibian Continental Shelf took place in Windhoek on 29 – 30 January 2003. The workshop was attended by the consultants, the High-level Ministerial Committee, the Committee of Permanent Secretaries and the Technical Committee responsible for the supervision and implementation of the project. The purpose of the workshop was to receive and deliberate on the final report of the Assessment Project for the Establishment of a Programme for the Delineation of the Namibian Continental Shelf under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.