Paramaribo, November 25th 1975
To:
The Government of the Republic of Suriname
For his excellency Mr. H.A.E.Arron,
Prime Minister
In accordance with your request, assuming that the territory of a country must be defined as clearly as possible upon its independence, I have the honor to inform you of the following with regard to the borders of Suriname.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands declares to consider the territory of the independent state of Suriname to be part of the Kingdom until the date of Surinamese independence, located on the mainland of South America, which has always been known as Suriname.
The Kingdom Government declares that it will continue to support the Kingdom positions adopted until the date of Surinamese independence with regard to the delimitation of the aforementioned territory, and of course to the extent and at the location where the Government of Suriname so wishes.
The eastern boundary of this area is formed from the confluence of the Marowijne Creek and the Litani in a northerly direction by a line running between the two banks of the Lawa and the Marowijne River to a point on the later to be determined closing line of the mouth of the Marowijne River and from this last point through the so-called equidistance line between the coasts of Suriname and French Guyana through the territorial sea, without prejudice to the rights that under international law accrue to the sovereign Republic of Suriname as a coastal state in the part of the sea area bounded by the continuation of this line.
Concerning the border to the south of the confluence of the Marowijne Creek and the Litani, according to the protocol signed by the Delegations of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the French Republic on November 14, 1975, the Kingdom position advocated by the Kingdom Delegation applies, without prejudice to what is common according to this Protocol is recommended as a guideline for a border treaty to be concluded and a treaty concerning economic cooperation between Suriname and the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the French Republic.
The southern boundary is formed by the line of watershed between the basin of the Amazon in the south and the basins of water flows that plunge north into the Atlantic Ocean.
The western border is formed by the low-water line on the left bank of the Corantijn, from origin to mouth. The border therefore runs from a point to be determined on the south border to the origin of the Upper Corantijn, then from this origin along the low-water line on the left bank of the Upper Corantijn and the Corantijn to the point where the bank line in the coastline and from this point along a line with a direction 10 degrees east of the True North through the territorial sea, without prejudice to the rights that under international law accrue to the sovereign Republic of Suriname as a coastal state in the part of the border bounded by the continuation of this line the sea area.
The northern boundary is determined by the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is calculated in accordance with the provisions of international law, without prejudice to the rights which under international law accrue to the sovereign Republic of Suriname as a coastal state in the sea area beyond.
The Kingdom considers the treaties that apply to the independence of Suriname, which lay down these limits, as a valid determination of the limits established thereby.
According to generally accepted rules of international law, the Republic of Suriname acquires the rights that the Kingdom of the Netherlands can derive from these treaties with regard to these limits and the relevant obligations are transferred to the Republic of Suriname.
The Kingdom shall continue to make the documents and documents relating to the border issue of Suriname available to the Republic of Suriname, and to continue to comply with any request for other relevant documents and documents to the best of its ability.
The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands,
(J.M. den Uyl)