On August 10 of this year, an oral presentation was made about the submitted reports of Chile regarding the extension of the Continental Shelf both in the eastern area of the Easter Island Province as well as in the western area of the Chilean Antarctic Territory. Both oral presentations were part of the agenda of the 55th session of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), held at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York City.

The delegation was made up of the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ximena Fuentes, the permanent representative of Chile to the UN, Ambassador Paula Narváez, and the professionals from the National Department of State Borders and Boundaries (DIFROL), Carla Hervías, Alejandro Silva and Gaspar González.

This represents a significant milestone in the process of claiming an extended continental shelf, which began in 2009 with a series of campaigns of measurement including bathymetry, geophysics and geodesy. All this information was studied and analyzed by a working group of DIFROL and supported by Chilean scientists of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Universidad de Concepción and Universidad de Chile. Additionally, the participation of Professor Gonzalo Yáñez, recently re-elected member of the CLCS, played an important role throughout the process.

DIFROL will continue to analyze information in respect of other potential areas of extended continental shelf.