JAMAICA AND SEABED AUTHORITY SIGN HEADQUARTERS AGREEMENT

Press Release
SEA/1648

JAMAICA AND SEABED AUTHORITY SIGN HEADQUARTERS AGREEMENT

(Received from the International Seabed Authority.)

KINGSTON, 26 August -- Officials of the Government of Jamaica and the International Seabed Authority signed in Kingston this afternoon the new Headquarters Agreement governing the relationship between the Government and the Authority.

Seymour Mullings, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, signed on behalf of the Jamaican Government. For the Seabed Authority, its Secretary-General, Satya N. Nandan, signed the agreement. The signing took place at the Jamaica Conference Centre during a meeting of the Authority's Assembly called for the purpose. The Assembly had approved the Agreement yesterday, 25 August.

Hailing the accord, Deputy Prime Minister Mullings said: "The adoption of the Agreement will allow the Authority to fully dedicate and direct its time and resources to the accomplishment of its mandate. Certainly, the comfort-level of the Secretary-General and the staff will be enhanced, allowing for greater productivity, stability and security."

Reiterating Jamaica's commitment to the vision of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Mr. Mullings added: "This is another milestone in the work of the Authority and it is hoped that this achievement will serve to stimulate the negotiation process in laying the institutional framework for the effective operation of the Authority."

Secretary-General Nandan recalled the history of Kingston's association with law of the sea institutions, going back to 1983 with the first session of the Preparatory Commission for the Authority and for the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and continuing from the establishment of the Authority in 1994 at the very site which has now become its permanent headquarters.

He looked forward to early implementation of Jamaica's undertaking on refurbishment and upgrading of the Authority's premises. "With this agreement the Authority will now have a permanent home", he observed.

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Assembly President Jose Luis Vallarta-Marrón (Mexico) expressed appreciation for the way in which the Jamaican Government had played its part in negotiations on the Agreement. He said that the signing of the Headquarters Agreement marked an important step in the progress of the Authority's work.

The Agreement, in 54 articles, regulates the facilities and functioning of the Authority on the territory of the host country. It establishes the legal privileges and immunities of the Authority, its property, personnel and the permanent representatives of its member States. (For further details see Press Release SEA/1642.)

Today's signing brings the Agreement into effect on a provisional basis. It will enter into force permanently once the Jamaican Government formally ratifies it.

When approving the Agreement yesterday, the Assembly also accepted with appreciation the offer by Jamaica to provide the Authority with office space for an indefinite period in the Kingston building where it has rented space since the inception of the Authority.

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