Kiribati is an island State located in the Pacific Ocean with territory spread throughout the Phoenix, Line and Gilbert Islands groups. Tuvalu, another archipelagic nation composed of nine coral atolls, lies due south of the Gilbert Islands in the central South Pacific Ocean.

In 2012, the two States delimited their 423 nautical mile maritime boundary, which divided their exclusive economic zone and continental shelf claims. The Agreement is composed of two terminal points and 18 turning points that reference the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS-84) datum. The boundary extends on a generally west to east bearing, separating the maritime zones generated by Kiribati’s Gilbert islands of Tabiteuea, Tamana and Arorae from the Tuvaluan islands of Nanumea and Niutao.