ASSEMBLY OF SEABED AUTHORITY APPOINTS CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE, GRANTS OBSERVER STATUS TO SOUTH PACIFIC REGIONAL ORGANIZATION

26 March 1997

Press Release
SEA/1547

ASSEMBLY OF SEABED AUTHORITY APPOINTS CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE, GRANTS OBSERVER STATUS TO SOUTH PACIFIC REGIONAL ORGANIZATION

19970326 KINGSTON, 26 March -- The Assembly of the International Seabed Authority, meeting at Kingston this morning, approved the appointment of its nine-member Credentials Committee for the 1997 session of the Authority. The countries chosen were Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Cameroon, China, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Japan and Nigeria. On another matter, the Assembly granted observer status to the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC). This is an independent, intergovernmental, regional organization with 17 South Pacific member States. It was established in 1972 and has its secretariat in Suva, Fiji. A concern was raised by the representative of Argentina about the dates of the August meetings of the Assembly coinciding with the national holidays of the host country. That was addressed by the representative of Jamaica, who noted that the dates approved by the United Nations General Assembly for the August meetings were well clear of Jamaican national holidays. Jamaica observes Emancipation Day on 1 August and Independence Day on 4 August. Secretary-General Satya N. Nandan reminded delegates that the concluding part of the third session would be held from 18 to 29 August, when two important issues would be taken up. Those are the work of the Legal and Technical Commission on a seabed mining code and the budget of the Authority. He invited comments from delegations about the logistics of future meetings, as some members had expressed the view that the technical and other specialized bodies could meet before the Council and the Assembly to allow for speedier deliberations. Today's meeting was presided over by one of the four Vice-Presidents, Jose Luis Vallarta (Mexico), as President S. Amos Wako (Kenya) had to leave Kingston earlier this week on an urgent matter. The Assembly will meet again tomorrow, 27 March -- the closing day of its current series of meetings -- to consider the Council's recommendation to approve the Agreement concerning the relationship between the United Nations and the Authority. It will also hear a report on the work of the Legal and Technical Commission. The Assembly meeting will follow a morning meeting of the Council.

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