Assam and Nagaland Chief Ministers Himanta Biswa Sarma and Neiphiu Rio have agreed in principle to go ahead with oil exploration in areas along their disputed boundary for the economic benefit of both states.

Sarma and Rio reached an understanding during a meeting Thursday night, hours after Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments signed an agreement to resolve their over five-decade-old border dispute.

Assam and Nagaland are exploring all options to bring an end to the decades-old border imbroglio in an amicable manner, an Assam government statement said.

During their one-to-one discussion here, the two chief ministers discussed issues of mutual interest and collaboration on oil exploration along the inter-state boundary, it said.

Rio told reporters that Assam and Nagaland have in principle decided to go for an MoU on oil exploration in the disputed areas so that oil can be extracted and royalties can be shared between the neighbouring states.

“Once it is formalised, there is huge potential for exploration of oil inside Nagaland also. And to move forward as the country needs oil in a big way," he said.

Sarma tweeted: "Happy to have got an opportunity to spend time with Hon'ble Chief Minister of Nagaland @Neiphiu_Rio Ji at Assam House, New Delhi. We had an engaging discussion on bringing closure to the ongoing boundary issue and other areas of mutual gains and collaboration.” The Nagaland chief minister said he had a fruitful discussion with his Assam counterpart on the out-of-court settlement of the boundary dispute with the support and cooperation of ethnic groups from both sides.

“We have discussed about our border and development issues. Because we have to work together, support one another and how to go forward,” he said.

Assam and Nagaland share a 434 km border.

The boundary dispute between the two states is more than six decades old and has been marked by several skirmishes. In the last major clash, in 1985 at Merapani, in present-day Golaghat district, 41 people, including 28 Assam policemen, were killed.

There have been several attempts by the Centre to resolve the issue.

Rio said the governments of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have signed an agreement on the border dispute and likewise “we are also discussing how we should settle our border dispute outside the court with the support of ethnic groups from both sides”.

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