TEXTS RELATING TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, POPULATION, AMONG 13 ADOPTED BY ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL

23 July 1998

Press Release
ECOSOC/5789

TEXTS RELATING TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, POPULATION, AMONG 13 ADOPTED BY ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL

19980723 The Economic and Social Council this afternoon adopted two resolutions, five decisions and six recommendations, all without a vote, as it continued its consideration of economic and environmental questions.

The Council adopted three draft decisions submitted by the Commission on Sustainable Development. By the first draft decision, the Council invited governments to undertake national consultations with appropriate stakeholder groups on guidelines for sustainable consumption. The Bureau of the Commission on Sustainable Development would be invited to organize open-ended consultations among States and to report thereon to the Inter-sessional Ad Hoc Working Group for its consideration.

By another decision, the Council approved the Commission's request to hold the third session of the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests at Geneva from 3 to 14 May 1999. In a third decision, it also took note of the report of the Commission on its sixth session and approved the provisional agenda for that body's seventh session.

By a decision read out by Francesco Paolo Fulci (Italy), Council Vice- President, the Council authorized the Commission on Sustainable Development to convene an organizational meeting in 1998 for the sole purpose of holding elections to fill the two remaining posts of Vice-Chairmen of the bureau of its seventh session. The terms of office of the two Vice-Chairmen would begin immediately upon election and end at the conclusion of the seventh session of the Commission, in 1999.

The Council adopted two resolutions and one decision recommended by the Commission on Population and Development. By those texts, the Council:

-- Invited Governments to give priority to the planning and undertaking of the next population and housing census, and called on the United Nations system, donor governments, and non-governmental organization to provide support to countries in need in that undertaking;

-- Decided that the duration of the thirty-second session of the Commission on Population and Development should be extended to seven working days in March 1999; and

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-- Took note of the Commission's report on its thirty-first session and approved the agenda for its thirty-second session.

Also this afternoon, the Council made the following three recommendations resulting from the Seventh United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names:

-- The Eighth Conference should be convened for eight working days in the second half of the year 2002;

-- The twentieth session of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names should be convened during the fourth quarter of 1999; and

-- The Secretary-General should take measures to implement the recommendations of the Conference, especially with regard to the work of the Group of Experts.

The Council also recommended that the fifteenth meeting of the experts in public administration and finance take place during the first quarter of the year 2000. It also recommended that the Secretary-General conduct a five- year assessment of the progress made in the implementation of Assembly resolution 50/225 on public administration and development and report his findings to the Assembly through the Council in the year 2001.

In addition, the Council recommended that the ninth meeting of the ad hoc group of experts on international cooperation in tax matters should take place in the first half of 1999, as envisaged in the proposed programme budget for the biennium 1998-1999.

While the Council was taking action on the reports of subsidiary bodies, the representatives of the United States and Japan made statements on the report of the Committee for Development Planning.

Also this afternoon, the representative of Cuba introduced a draft resolution (document E/1998/L.22) on the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by the specialized agencies and the international institutions associated with the United Nations.

As the Council resumed its consideration of economic and environmental questions, it heard statements made by the representatives of Malaysia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Belarus, Canada, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the Russian Federation.

The Chairman of the Committee for Development Planning, Nurul Islam, and the Officer-in-Charge for Economic and Social Council Support and Coordination, Saburland Khan, also made statements.

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On economic and social repercussions of Israeli occupation on the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan, statements were made by the representatives Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Israel, Indonesia, Oman, Lebanon and Tunisia. The observer for Palestine also spoke.

The representative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) spoke under the sub-item on implementation of the Declaration on Decolonization. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea spoke in exercise of the right of reply.

The Council will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 24 July, to begin its consideration of coordination, programme and other questions.

Council Work Programme

The Economic and Social Council met this afternoon to continue its consideration of several issues under the agenda item "economic and environmental questions", including sustainable development, natural resources, energy, international cooperation in tax matters, public administration and finance, cartography and population and development.

The Council was also scheduled to consider the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by the United Nations specialized agencies and the international institutions.

In addition, the Council was scheduled to take up the economic and social repercussions of the Israeli occupation on the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan. (For background information, see press release ECOSOC/5788 of 23 July.)

Introduction of Draft Resolution

RODOLFO ELISEO BENITEZ VERSON (Cuba) introduced a draft resolution on the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by the specialized agencies and the international institutions associated with the United Nations (document E/1998/L.22)

By that draft, the Council would recommend that all States intensify their efforts in the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system to ensure the full and effective implementation of the Declaration. The administering Powers concerned would be requested to facilitate the participation of appointed and elected representatives of Non-Self-Governing Territories in the relevant meetings and conferences of the agencies and organizations. That would allow the Territories to benefit from the related activities of the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system.

Also by the draft, the Council would request the specialized agencies, and the international institutions associated with the United Nations and regional organizations, to strengthen existing measures of support and formulate programmes of assistance to the remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories, within the framework of their respective mandates. That would accelerate progress in the economic and social sectors of those Territories. The specialized agencies, the United Nations system and international and regional organizations would also be asked to examine and review conditions in each Territory in order to take appropriate measures to accelerate progress in the economic and social sectors of the Territories.

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The Secretary-General would be requested to follow the implementation of the present resolution and to report to the Council at its substantive session of 1999. He should pay particular attention to cooperation and integration arrangements for maximizing the efficiency of the assistance activities undertaken by various organizations of the United Nations system.

The draft text is sponsored by China, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Papua New Guinea, Sudan, Syria, United Republic of Tanzania, Tunisia, Viet Nam, Zambia, Colombia, Grenada, India, Lebanon, Namibia and Togo.

Statements SHUKRI IBRAHIM (Malaysia) said the Asian crisis was now global. The focus on it by the Committee for Development Planning was, therefore, timely. The underlying fundamental issue in that crisis was now development and not finance. The question to be asked was: how could development be financed when a country was impoverished? If agreement on the remedial courses for the Asian crisis could not be reached, more complications would ensue. The vulnerability index was a matter of concern for weaker countries and of particular relevance to small island States. Marginalization would not be resolved unless the international community was deliberate in its assistance. Malaysia expressed its support for the representative of Vanuatu's request that his country's graduation from the least developed countries list be postponed until the year 2000.

HIDEKI ITO (Japan) said chapter two of the report of the Committee for Development Planning called for the establishment of the world financial organization. The functions of such a body would overlap with those of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Also, the proposal did not mention the restructuring of those two organizations. Japan felt that particular proposal was not ready to be dealt with as yet. While the Committee's role was to make various recommendations on economic issues from the standpoint of experts, the sweeping recommendations of the report, made without the consultation of Member States, were of no use. The report should also be examined closely to consider an appropriate way to deal with the vulnerability index.

SONG YOUNG-WAN (Republic of Korea) said his Government was satisfied at the results of the Seventh United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. The measures adopted at the Conference, such as the promotion of Internet-based standardization activities, would provide important momentum for the standardization of geographical names both at the national and international levels. Member States also were able to engage in constructive discussions on the naming of geographical features beyond any national sovereignty. Further discussion should be made by the Group of Expert on Geographical Names, and consultations should be held pursuant to the previous resolutions of the Conference applicable to features beyond any national sovereignty.

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Since 1992, the Republic of Korea had sought to engage Japan in a constructive dialogue to find a mutually acceptable designation of the sea area between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago, he said. Little progress had been achieved, because no serious discussion had been held. The parties concerned should meet for a prompt settlement of the issue. Both the names "East Sea" and "Sea of Japan" should be used simultaneously in all official documents, maps, and atlases to designate the body of water in question, as an interim measure pending an agreement on a common designation.

ULADZIMIR GERUS (Belarus) said the advantage of the Commission on Sustainable Development's last session led to focused, strategic approaches on freshwater and the interrelationship between industry and sustainable development. The reduced length of session had helped to enhance the effectiveness and fruitfulness of the Commission's work. The documents adopted had helped to develop and spell out the programme of joint action for the further implementation of Agenda 21. Yet, the discussion which occurred in the Commission demonstrated that a conservative approach being taken by many States still prevailed. That approach was contrary to the very concept of sustainable development. One result of United Nations reform should be for the Commission to maintain and strengthen its role as the fundamental body for analysing and regulating the implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

Belarus was taking steps to carry out consistent policies to complete the transfer to a market economy, he said. His Government also was pursuing the ratification of the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. It intended to make a contribution to protecting the international environment, and the Government was studying the possibility of creating a regional centre on sustainable development in Minsk. If the centre was scientifically oriented in a particular direction, it could be of interest and benefit to all States in Eastern Europe and to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In addition, Belarus pledged to develop constructive cooperation with all organs of the United Nations system, international institutions and States in the further implementation of Agenda 21.

DENIS CHOUINARD (Canada) said his delegation did not support the recommendation in the Secretary-General's report on health and the environment that the World Trade Organization (WTO) Committee on Trade and Environment take speedy action on reviving the notification system on domestically prohibited goods. He said the notification system for products prohibited for sale was largely covered by the new Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade. It was, therefore, not appropriate for the WTO Committee to cover that issue. VASKO GRKOV (The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) said he wished to emphasize the importance of the work of Seventh Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, in particular, the resolution for the

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national standardization based on local usage and the resolution for the list of country names. His delegation felt that all countries should strive to prevent any misuse of the work of the conference for political purposes. In the more globalized world of today, all countries should make an effort to give priority to using the names of the countries and toponymies (studies of regional place names), as given by the people who lived there.

IGOR PANEVKIN (Russian Federation) said his Government commended the results of the latest session of the Commission on Sustainable Development and the report on products harmful to health and the environment. He asked for clarification from the secretariat on the section on computer access to the Consolidated List of Products Whose Consumption and/or Sale Have Been Banned, Withdrawn, Severely Restricted or Not Approved by Governments. What were the plans for creating a website and what specific programmes and means of support would be used to secure access by countries?

The Russian Federation also commended the work of the expert group on taxation and supported the proposals for regional seminars, he said. International cooperation was particularly important in matters concerning money-laundering and tax havens. The report of the Committee for Development Planning contained interesting recommendations, but they clearly could not be regarded as action to be taken by the international community. Its efforts should be encouraged in the future, but its work should be brought more in line with the work of the rest of the Organization.

NURUL ISLAM, Chairman of the Committee for Development Planning, introduced the Committee's report on its thirty-second session. He said there had been a lot of discussion about how the private sector could share a part of the burden of the Asian financial crisis. The Committee thought there should be serious examination about a systemic approach.

Regarding the vulnerability index, the Committee was requested to consider the report of the ad hoc expert group on the index, not to develop the index itself. It only had been asked to analyse how such a mechanism might be used. Whether a vulnerability index should be part of the criteria for categorizing a country as a least developed country was yet to be determined. There were currently three criteria for that identification -- gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, adjusted quality of life index, and the index of economic of diversification. The vulnerability aspects were appropriately included in the diversification index. The vulnerability to natural disaster was also considered. The Committee thought the Secretariat should do more work in that area.

By the present criteria approved by the Council, he said the Committee not to recommend Vanuatu for graduation from the list. A final decision on that country's status would not be made until the year 2000, which would allow time for a correction if the situation in the country should change.

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SARBULAND KHAN, Officer-in-Charge of Economic and Social Council Support and Coordination, responding to questions from delegations, said that one of the problems that arose with registering the trade names of pharmaceuticals was that a drug could be marketed under different names in different countries. He cited aspirin and aspro as examples. There was, therefore, an effort to make sure that both trade names and also generic formulae were listed together to give governments a full picture. The name of a corporation was another problem. Change of name following the introduction of a product also had to be reflected. The prior informed consent procedure was limited to internationally traded chemicals. Currently, only 27 were covered. The Consolidated List of Products Whose Consumption and/or Sale Have Been Banned, Withdrawn, Severely Restricted or Not Approved by Governments covered 350 and included internationally traded chemicals and others with restrictions.

NINA SIBAL, of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said Assembly resolution 52/170 urged the United Nations system to extend, as rapidly as possible, economic and social assistance to Palestinian people in order to assist in the development of the West Bank and Gaza. They should do so in close cooperation with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and through official Palestinian institutions.

An emergency action plan for Bethlehem and its district, financed by Italy, was prepared in 1997 by a multi-disciplinary group of experts, she said. The group was composed of Palestinians, Italians and UNESCO staff, and had been officially approved by the Palestinian Authority. The group addressed the following aspects: safeguarding of cultural heritage; rehabilitation and revitalization of the urban composition; infrastructures, including transport, water, electricity and sanitation; economy; and tourism. About 100 projects were proposed for submission to donors.

MARWAN A. JILANI, observer for Palestine, said the report divided the occupied Palestinian territory. Jerusalem should not be dealt with as a separate entity, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip were alien terms to United Nations resolutions and reports. Palestine rejected such terms. The report reflected the colonial expansion of Israel. The evidence was visible in the increasing illegal settlements. The international community had condemned Israeli policies and practices and labelled them null and void. Those practices also violated international legality, including Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

He said the Israeli Government was also pursuing a policy of demolition of Palestinian homes. More than a thousand homes were targetted for destruction by the present Government. It also continued to confiscate Palestinian identities in an effort to create a Jewish majority in Jerusalem. Those policies and practices were aimed at killing the peace process. Israel's Government had rejected the American proposal aimed at reactivating the peace process while Palestinians had accepted it. That Israeli Prime

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Minister was still using all methods of procrastination to evade implementing commitments. Those methods no longer deceived anyone and cast grave doubts on his administration.

FARIS ADIB AMMARIN (Jordan) said the signing of the peace treaty between Jordan and Israel represented a model for regional cooperation in various facets of development. Jordan believed that peace should always be based on justice, and that world peace and security depended on the degree of the enhancement of international and regional cooperation. The United Nations, through its various resolutions, had repeatedly emphasized the positions of its Member States on the illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories. The report before the Council reflected the conditions of the Palestinian people in the occupied territory, including Jerusalem, and of the other Arab population in the Syrian Golan, as a result of the continued illegal building of Israeli settlements.

He said the report was quite indicative of continued Israeli efforts to change the structure of the population of Jerusalem. That constituted a deliberate policy to change the demographic nature of occupied East Jerusalem, thus contradicting numerous United Nations resolutions. In order for peace and security to be preserved and sustained, the Israeli Government must comply with all agreements reached and not embark on any policy that would prejudge the final status of negotiations.

HUSSAM EDIN A'ALA (Syria) said the international community was unanimous in placing the question of development at the head of the work of United Nations agencies. Yet, the persistence of the Israeli occupation prevented peace and security from prevailing in that part of the world. The persistent Israeli policies undermined the search for lasting peace and the development of the economic environment. It also destroyed the living conditions of Syrians in the Golan Heights and of Palestinians in the occupied territory. Such illegal measures had had an adverse impact on the levels of production and on investment. The report under consideration provided many examples of Israeli practices in the occupied territories, which ran contrary to international law and the many United Nations resolutions.

Since the ascension of the current Israeli Government, it had pursued settlement policies that were flagrantly contradictory to the peace process, he said. Several resolutions of the Security Council have indicated that the annexation of the Golan was null and void. Despite that action, the Israel Legislature recently adopted a bill to oppose any withdrawal from the occupied Syrian Golan or any other territory annexed by Israel, thereby ignoring the will of the international community. That method was contrary to peace and to the obligations Israel had willingly assumed in previous phases of the peace process. The achievement of a just peace in the region was the only way of assuring security, and thus the success of the development activities being carried out by the agencies of the United Nations.

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MOHAMED FATTAH (Egypt) said the Secretary-General's report revealed that Israel had nothing but contempt for the Fourth Geneva Convention. The situation in the occupied territory had become even more serious since Israel, as the occupying Power, had prohibited the Palestinians from using water resources. That had a serious impact on agricultural resources and development. Israel intended to dominate the existing water resources of the Jordan River and all aquifers.

He said the West Bank had become a repository for industrial waste and that indicated Israel's real desire to keep such discharges far from its residential area. It was hoped that the current session of the Council would take up ways of improving the economic situation of the Palestinian people. The past two years had seen the systematic deterioration of the peace process. Now, there was need for a resolution to be put before the General Assembly to ensure that Israel respect its status as an occupying Power.

ZVI COHEN (Israel) said Israelis and Palestinians have finally committed to solving their conflict directly, in face-to-face negotiations. They have also agreed to rise above the violence and acrimony of the past. The report before the Council was an unfortunate throwback to the conflict as it once existed. It was a direct violation of both the spirit and the text of the Oslo Accord. That agreement demanded that both sides resolve the conflict only in bilateral exchanges, and it expressly forbid either party from unilaterally attempting to influence issues, such as settlement, reserved for the final status talks. Documents, such as the report before the Council, which tried to use outside frameworks to influence factors under discussion, could directly endanger the peace process.

In addition, he said the report was outdated and revealed an obvious one-sided agenda. Ninety-eight per cent of Palestinians currently lived under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, where they might determine their own living conditions. Israelis and Palestinians had undertaken many cooperative ventures to improve the economic and social conditions of Palestinians. Promoting the Palestinian economy required easing the flow of Palestinian exports to markets in Jordan and Egypt, as well as to the Israeli economy. Under the Oslo II Interim Agreement, Israel exercised security control over passages out of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. By streamlining the use of those passages, Israel enabled the monthly number of trucks crossing from the territories to increase by 32 per cent over that of 1996. Israel had a direct interest in seeing further improvement in that area.

SUTJIPTOHARDJO DONOKUSUMO (Indonesia) said the Middle East region stood ominously close to becoming embroiled in tension and turmoil. The past year had been one marked with increasing hardships on a whole people under Israeli occupation. His delegation noted with deep concern that the daily lives of the Palestinian people had been overwhelmed with despair and frustration. They bore the brunt of untenable Israeli measures -- policies of pressure,

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economic strangulation, closures and confiscations. Such acts could not but have dire economic and social repercussions on the people living in the occupied territory.

He said it could not be denied that aggressive Israeli settlement expansions were a major obstacle to Palestinian socio-economic development, and undermined the viability of a future Palestinian state. There could be no doubt that the United Nations needed to continue to play a significant role in alleviating the plight of the Palestinian people. It was an undeniable fact that peace and development were interrelated. It was, therefore, crucial for the entire international community to extend every assistance in promoting development and an enduring and stable peace.

MOHAMED AL-HASSAN (Oman) said the information in the report on Israeli occupation was worrying and disturbing. There was obviously a lack of impetus on the part of the Israeli Government to implement the relevant international laws, including the Geneva Conventions, that concerned the occupied territories. As the occupying Power, Israel needed to fulfil its responsibility under those laws in order to protect the lives and livelihoods of the Palestinian people.

He said his Government was concerned by the confiscation of land, the creation of illegal settlements, limited access for Palestinians to water and other resources, and restrictions of their freedom of movement. All of those policies paused serious problems for the Palestinian people, as well as for other Arabs living in the occupied territories. Those actions, which were sometimes deliberative and sometimes covert, were illegal and ran counter to the peace process. Oman hoped the Israeli Government would change its policies towards the occupied territories. There had been much talk about political will in the peace process, but often those words were not translated into deeds.

HICHAM HAMDAN (Lebanon) said he would not dwell on what had already been stated by other members of the Council. The report was important and historic and had been written in a very objective manner. The situation in the occupied territories had its basis in legal issues which were embedded in international law and in several General Assembly resolutions. Regarding restrictions on housing construction, he said there were other policies that prohibited Arabs from restoring old houses. That rendered those houses dangerous for living, and forced the owners to sell or desert their homes. Thus, the buildings were vulnerable to confiscation and demolition.

In the section of the report concerning the Golan Heights, reference was made to a private firm, McDonalds, he said. The Council should be alarmed at such an explicit and clear reference to a private firm's involvement in the occupied territories. That was contrary to international law and Assembly resolutions which called on all States to take necessary legislation to

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prohibit private firms from engaging in activities that damaged the welfare of the people living in the occupied territories.

ABDERRAZAK AZAIEZ (Tunisia) said the report of the Secretary-General was incomplete since the authors of the report had trying conditions in which to access data. His country requested that Israel comply strictly with the Geneva Convention on its obligations as the occupying Power to the civilian population. Tunisia also wanted the United Nations to continue providing assistance in many forms to the Palestinian people until they recovered their legitimate rights. The Economic and Social Council should also continue to maintain the present item on its agenda until the Palestinian people had achieved their inalienable rights and Israeli occupation had ceased.

Action on Drafts

The Council then adopted three decisions, submitted by the Commission on Sustainable Development, on consumer protection guidelines for sustainable consumption, on matters relating to the third session of the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests, and on the report of the Commission on its sixth session and provisional agenda for its seventh session.

The Council then adopted a recommendation by the ad hoc group of experts on international cooperation in tax matters on the convening of its ninth meeting.

The Council then adopted two recommendations submitted by the experts on the United Nations programme in public administration and finance.

The Council adopted the three recommendations contained in the Secretary-General's report on the Seventh United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names.

The Council adopted a resolution, submitted by the Commission on Population and Development, on the importance of population census activities for evaluation of progress in implementing the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).

It then adopted a resolution on the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Programme of Action of the ICPD, submitted by the Commission.

Next, the Council took up a draft decision on the report of the Commission on Population and Development on its thirty-first session and provisional agenda for the thirty-second session of the Commission.

FRANCESCO PAOLO FULCI (Italy), Vice-President of the Council, reminded the Council that reference to the Task Force on Basic Services for All of the

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Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) should be deleted from item 4 of the provisional agenda of the thirty-second session of the Commission.

The Council then adopted the draft decision, as orally amended.

SETH WINNICK (United States) requested that informal consultations should be held on how the Council should handle the report of the Committee for Development Planning.

Mr. ITO (Japan) said his Government supported the comments made by the representative of the United States.

Mr. FULCI (Italy), Council Vice-President, said the Council would return to the agenda item after informal consultations on the report of the Committee for Development Planning. He then read out the following oral draft decision:

"The Economic and Social Council,

"(a) Authorizes the Commission on Sustainable Development to convene an organizational meeting in 1998 for the sole purpose of holding elections to fill the two remaining posts of Vice-Chairmen of the bureau of its seventh session, in accordance with rule 15 of the rules of procedure of the functional commissions of the Council; the terms of office of the two Vice- Chairmen will begin immediately upon election and will end at the conclusion of the seventh session of the Commission, in 1999; and,

"(b) Decides that, in this context, the provisions of paragraph (d) of its decision 1993/207 of 12 February 1993 do not apply."

The Council then approved the oral decision.

Right of Reply

RI NAM SU (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), speaking in exercise of the right of reply, said the representative of Japan was still refusing to admit that reference to the "Sea of Japan" was historically unfair and a relic of his country's colonial past. In the 1920s, the reference to the "Sea of Japan" was widely recognized, as the Japanese colonialists enforced a policy of rewriting Korea's historical and societal past. His Government expressed further disappointment at the Japanese representative's statement, and urged the Government of Japan to respond positively to the recommendations regarding the "Sea of Japan" made by the sixth and seventh United Nations Conferences on the Standardization of Geographical Names.

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