SEABED ASSEMBLY APPROVES FINANCE COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS, INCLUDING FUNDS FOR DEVELOPING-COUNTRY PARTICIPATION

SEABED ASSEMBLY APPROVES FINANCE COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS,

INCLUDING FUNDS FOR DEVELOPING-COUNTRY PARTICIPATION

(Reissued as received.)

KINGSTON, 5 August -- The Assembly of the International Seabed Authority, meeting this morning in Kingston, approved without vote several recommendations of the Finance Committee, including a plan to advance up to $75,000 to a voluntary fund that helps defray the costs of attendance by developing-country members of two Authority expert bodies.

The decision on this point was taken after the Authority Council had approved the Committee’s recommendations earlier today.

Approving Finance Committee recommendations on other matters (report in ISBA/9/A/5-ISBA/9/C/5), the Assembly:

-- Fixed budget assessment rates for five States that have joined the Authority this year:  Albania, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Armenia, at 0.01 per cent each, and Qatar, at 0.05 per cent;

-- Appointed the firm Deloitte and Touche as the Authority’s new auditor for 2003-2004;

-- Again requested members to pay their assessed contributions in full and on time, and urged them to contribute to the voluntary fund for participation by members of the Committee and the Legal and Technical Commission.

The Assembly, by acclamation, elected its four vice-presidents, as follows:  Côte d’Ivoire, nominated on behalf of the African Group; India, nominated on behalf of the Asian Group; Norway, nominated on behalf of the Group of Western European and Other States; and Trinidad and Tobago, nominated on behalf of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States.

As members of its Credentials Committee, the Assembly appointed Austria, Brazil, Czech Republic, Ghana, Greece, Jamaica, Japan, Malaysia and Uganda.

The Assembly then heard Secretary-General Satya N. Nandan introduce his annual report on the work of the Authority.  Discussion on this item will start when the Assembly reconvenes at 3 p.m. today.

On a proposal by Chile, the Assembly decided not to meet tomorrow, 6 August, in honour of the independence day of the host country, Jamaica.  It is expected to finish its current session on Thursday, 7 August.

Report of Secretary-General

Secretary-General Nandan, introducing his report today (document ISBA/9/A/3), mentioned his intention to submit next year, in the context of his budget proposals for 2005-2006, a comprehensive three-year work programme for the Authority, including a review of the secretariat’s structure aimed at the most efficient use of its resources.

He noted that budget savings, along with an arrears payment of more than $1 million by the United States, had enabled the Authority to reduce substantially the assessments of member States for 2003-2004.  As of 31 July, 43 States had paid their assessments in full, in a total amount of $3,244,588, or 82 per cent of all assessments.  Forty-seven of the 143 members were more than two years in arrears, subjecting them to loss of vote in Authority bodies.

Regarding relations with Jamaica as host country, and specifically the pending matter of a supplemental agreement concerning the headquarters of the Authority in Kingston, he said some technical progress had been made this year on cost calculations for office maintenance.  A few days ago, Jamaica had submitted a new draft, but he still awaited particulars on costs.  Recent contacts had led him to believe that Jamaica would like to move forward on the agreement.

On another matter, he hoped a solution could be found to the problem of allowing the spouses of staff members to be employed locally, since their inability to do so made it difficult for the Authority to attract job candidates.

Regarding promotion and encouragement of marine scientific research in the international seabed area, the Secretary-General highlighted the Kaplan project, a research scheme, coordinated through the University of Hawaii, to study biodiversity, species range and gene flow in the abyssal Pacific nodule area with a view to predicting and managing the impacts of deep seabed mining.  The first Kaplan cruise had taken place from 4 February to 8 March 2003, when samples had been taken.  Kaplan scientists hoped to participate in cruises to be organized in 2004 or 2005 by Japan, France, China and possibly the Republic of Korea.

The proposal to develop a geologic model of the Pacific nodule zone, he stated, would assist both the Authority and contractors.  He hoped the plan would encourage similar models in other areas, such as the Indian Ocean.  Meanwhile, the central data repository, an International Seabed Authority database on deep-sea resources established in 2000, was being developed with outside cooperation, including help from agencies of Canada and the United States.

With prospects for seabed mining “somewhat remote at this time”, he continued, the intervening period should be used to obtain more information that would help the Authority regulate activities in this area.  While the main priority for the immediate future was the development of regulations for polymetallic sulphides and cobalt-rich crusts, the Authority continue its work in marine science relating to the deep seabed.

The Authority, he said, also needed to consider future implementation of article 82, paragraph 4, of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, dealing with non-living resources of the continental shelf where it extends beyond 200 miles from shore.  At least two States had issued oil- and gas-drilling licences in that area, and one had asked the Authority how it would deal with the situation.  The first step should be to identify areas that were likely to be developed, and also to look at how the Authority would respond to member States that wished to contribute funds as part of the revenue-sharing provisions of the Convention.  The secretariat intended to study the facts and eventually present them to the members.

Regarding biodiversity in the international seabed area, he said the Authority hoped to cooperate with the Division of Ocean Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat and other international bodies that were studying the subject, especially in relation to hydrothermal vent areas.  “It is not the intention of the secretariat -– and, at least as far as I know, the Authority -– to regulate marine scientific research”, he remarked.  Rather, the aim was to see how everyone, including scientists and mineral prospectors, could cooperate and follow practices to protect and preserve the marine environment.

* *** *