Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega Friday objected to Costa Rica's plan to ask experts from the United Nations to determine the maritime border between these two countries, which has long been a source of contention.

“International experts can't come to determine these borders,” Ortega told journalists Friday, two days after Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno suggested that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon assign experts to determine the border.

Differences over where Costa Rica ends and Nicaragua begins were reawakened recently when a Costa Rican fishing boat was detained and fined by Nicaraguan authorities April 10 (TT, April 20). The incident left Nicaragua and Costa Rica in disagreement over which country's territory the boat was in when it was detained and exactly where the border lies.

Upon hearing Stagno's suggestion that U.N. experts determine the border once and for all, Ortega rejected it, maintaining his country's stance that Costa Rica and Nicaragua should reach a bilateral maritime territory agreement.

Ortega said he and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias have talked about strengthening relations between their countries, but that doing so requires first “coming to agreements on certain things of mutual interest.”