JOACHIM KOCH (GERMANY), PRESIDENT OF SEABED COUNCIL FOR 1998

Press Release
SEA/1575

JOACHIM KOCH (GERMANY), PRESIDENT OF SEABED COUNCIL FOR 1998

KINGSTON, 16 March -- Joachim Koch (Germany), who was elected today as President of the Council of the International Seabed Authority for 1998, has headed since 1983 the Division for Legal Questions Relating to Economic Activities in the High Seas and Polar Regions, in the German Ministry of Economics.

As an official of the Economics Ministry since 1964, Mr. Koch has handled issues ranging from trade, investment and energy to Antarctic mineral resources and matters pertaining to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. He was a German representative to the United Nations General Assembly and the Committees on Natural Resources and Science and Technology between 1973 and 1980.

From 1988 to 1994, he represented his country at Special Commissions 1, 2 and 3 of the Preparatory Commission for the Authority and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. From 1990 to 1994, he participated in the informal consultations on outstanding issues related to the deep seabed mining provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea which resulted in the 1994 Agreement relating to Implementation of Part XI of the 1982 Convention.

Mr. Koch has led the German delegation to the Authority since its inception.

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