Singapore and Malaysia "mutually suspended the implementation of their overlapping port limits" on Monday, April 8, according to a spokesperson for the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).

The move came into effect at 12.01am.

This means that Malaysia and Singapore would revert to their port limits before Oct. 25 2018 and Dec. 6 2018 respectively.

Deescalate situation on the ground

Previously, on March 14, Singapore's Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and his Malaysian counterpart, Saifuddin Abdullah, declared in a joint statement that Malaysia and Singapore would apply their port limits before Oct. 25. 2018 and Dec. 6 2018 respectively.

The move was decided to "deescalate the situation on the ground, and pave the way for maritime boundary delimitation of the area”.

Quick recap

On Oct. 25, Malaysia unilaterally decided to expand its port limits into Singapore waters.

In response, Singapore extended its own port limits to the 1979 boundary set by Malaysia.

The move came just before Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's scheduled meeting with Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on April 9 at the 9th Singapore-Malaysia Leaders' Retreat.

Top image via Singapore Police Force