Quito (Ecuador), April 22 (IANS) Ecuador and Costa Rica signed an agreement to delineate maritime boundary between the two nations here Monday, capping over three decades of negotiations on the matter, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said.

“The signing represents a valuable example of understanding and the beginning of a stage of cooperation,” Xinhua quoted Patino as telling reporters here at a ceremony.

Patino, who signed the document with his Costa Rican counterpart Enrique Castillo, said their shared maritime boundary will serve as a point of integration between the “sister nations”.

Ecuador shares land borders with Colombia to the northeast and with Peru to the south and east, while sharing maritime boundary with Costa Rica to the northwest.

Starting 1978, Ecuador and Costa Rica launched talks aimed at delineating their shared maritime boundary, especially the division between the famed Galapagos Islands (located 972 km off Ecuador’s Pacific coast) and Cocos Island (a national park located 532 km off the coast of Costa Rica).

Both agreed to dispatch a technical commission to study the issue in March 2013, and the results were presented April 11, paving the way for the signing of the agreement.