THIRD SESSION PROVISIONAL SUMMARY RECORD OF THE FORTY-SEVENTH MEETING HELD AT THE PALAIS DES NATIONS, GENEVA, ON TUESDAY, 18 MARCH 1975, AT 11 A.M.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82S00697R000400030014-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 15, 2002
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: April 2, 1975
• Content Type: SUMMARY

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PROVISIONAL: FOR PARTICIPANTS ONLY
Distr.
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2 April 1975
Original: ENGLISH.
PROVISIONAL SUMNI-ARY RECORD OF THE FORTY-SEVENTH MEETING
held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva,
on Tuesday, 18 March 1975, at 11 a.m
Chairman: Mr. GALINDO POHL El Salvador
Rapporteur: Mr. NANDAN
CONTENTS
Organization of work
Fiji
N.B. Participants wishing to have corrections to this provisional summary record
incorporated in the final summary record of the meeting are requested to submit
them in writing in quadruplicate, preferably on a copy of the record itself, to
the Official Records Editing Section, room E.4121, Palais des Nations, Geneva,
within five working days of receiving the provisional record in their working
language.
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ORGANIZATION OF WORK
The CHA.IIMN thanked the members of the Committee for the honour they had done
him by electing him Chairman. They had be?ii working together for a long time to
establish a new regime for the law of the sea, and the confidence and friendship that
had developed over the years augered well for the work of the Committee. He would
always be prepared to hear proposals and to make his own humble contribution whenever
possible, with a view to obtaining those tangible results which their governments, their
peoples and they themselves desired.
At the present meeting the Committee would discuss the organization of its work and
questions of procedure. Owing to the short time available, he had had little
opportunity for consultations, but the officers of the Committee had met earlier that
morning and endorsed the suggestions he would put before it.
The Conference was beginning its third session under distinct pressures, inter alia
to achieve tangible and lasting results which would-lead to a convention on the law of
the sea. It had before it the work of the Caracas session, so that it was not required
to make a fresh start, but rather to continue and to adapt what had already been
ac na1;lished. An instrument as complex as the proposed convention had to be built up
~,
step by step, by a method that, would allow full expression of national positions".and
?lead to compromise, accommodation and agreement. It was only thus that common ground
could be reached, national interests giving way to the interests of the international
community.
The third session at Geneva was, in his opinion, the time and place to obtain
general agreement on the basic subject-matter of the Conference. The programme of work
should therefore reflect what could reasonably be expected to be achieved. After six
years of work by the Sea-bed Committee and one year by the Third Conference on the
Law of the Sea, it mould seem that the time was ripe for fundamental negotiation. The
future convention could take shape at Geneva and at the end of the session the Conference
should have a definite answer to the question of the new order for the oceans, even
though details and refinements might require consideration later.
The current session should be one of continuity, following up what had been done at
Caracas and establishing the main substance of the future convention. Those were
possible co-=ordinates for the work of the third session: procedures would be devised as
t}1'"work went forward. Since it was preferable to take decisions as and when required,
wol,icing methods for the initial stage should be settled according to circumstances.
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J The principle of continuity would lead the Conference to confirm the procedural
",cisions taken at Caracas and to use the working documents produced there. Documents
,,.a been ,prepared cn all the items allocate, to the Second Col-mittee, and-its decision
the organization of the first stage of its work appeared in document
A,;,."a-,62/L.8/Rev.l, annex III paragraphs 6 and 7. By that decision, the Committee
d
r.freed to undertake a second?reading of the documents produced at the secon
saiion. While the arguments of the sceptics
):tr could not be underestimated, the purpose
ti. such a consolidation. Reconsideration of
regarding attempts to produce-consolidated
of the second reading would be to arrive
the documents would be supplemented by
::;tan~al consultations with a view to reconciling divergent views.
?,.ne.s of action might give the real measure of agreement obtainable.
.:.e consultations would be reported to the Committee. The working
t:, be net up, by delegations would be helpful for the achievement of
arrr.ement and should be encouraged as much as possible.
Those parallel
The results of
groups set up, or
a broad. basis for
? With regard to method, the problems' should be divided and approached from different
mr.Flea and by different means. While political and legal treatment of questions did
:t:ifer, they were closely interrelated and the Committee might agree on elements rather
:n on complete and polished formulas.
After consu:Ltation, the officers of the Committee had proposed the following
,:.utline of procedure for the first stage 'of its work:
'3) Review of the documents produced at Caracas, on the basis of the groups of items
decided on there, with a view to elaborating consolidated texts. The basis text
would be, document A/CQPNF. 62/C.2/WP.1 of .15 October 1974, which was a systematic
.ompilation of the documents produced by the Second Committee in informal meetings
at Caracas.
Informal consultations on the views expressed during the review of the above
document. An attempt would be made to focus the process of consultation on the
ennential items. The Chairman and the officers, with the assistance of the
secretariat, would be authorized to carry on consultations and would report on
theca to the Committee periodically.
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?S) Encouragement of working groups already in existence or which delegations might
decide to set up. The Secretariat would be asked to provide the necessary
meeting-rooms and interpretation services.
(4) Invitation to delegations which had maintained differing views, set out in
alternative formulas, to meet and attempt to reach compromises, and to report in
due course on the results of their consultations.
(5) Formal meetings for the official. submission of new proposals by States or groups
of States or to hear progress reports on consultations.
In order to have sufficient time and staff available for consultations and
meetings.of working groups, it was suggested that'the Committee should hold morning
meetings only and reserve the afternoons for other activities.
It seemed probable that progress at the current session would be measured less
by the number of meetings held than by the points of substance agreed on. The
working groups and informal consultationQ would be lines of action parallel and
complementary to the Committee's discussions. Various channels could operate at the
same time, and it might be necessary that they should do so.
He suggested that the Committee decide to organize its work at the preliminary
stage in accordance with the five points he had indicated.
Mr. BAKULA (Peru) said his delegation believed that the outline of'procedure
budoubtedly provided a good course to follow. He wondered, however, whether the
Chairman had estimated how long that preliminary stage of the work would last.
The CHAIRITAN said that that question had arisen at the meeting of the
officers of the Committee. While he hesitated to say how many days the first stage
would take, since it depended on the time used for negotiations and on the progress
achieved, he would tentatively suggest that it should last until the Committee had to
report to the plenary: in other words, about two weeks.
Mr. TRFDINNICK (Bolivia) said that three suggestions made at Caracas had
been omitted from document A/CONF. 62/C . 2," P.1: article 3 of document A/CON\TF. 62/C . 2/L.39
and articles 1 and 2 of document A/CONF.62/C.2/L.65. With respect to the latter
document, his delegation hoped that the economic zones to be established would be of a
regional nature. He therefore requested. that those three articles be included in
document A/600.62/C.2/WP.1 as alternative formulas.
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C' The CHAIRMAN said that the Secretariat would be requested to find out how
that omission had come about and report to the Committee, which could then decide
whether or not the,:uggested articles shoulc. be included.
Mr. KHARAS (Pakistan), noting that the Chairman had emphasized informal
consultations, said that while his delegation recognized their importance, it feared,
that the trend towards working in small groups might lead to small groups laying down
the law of the sea. He therefore suggested that after subjects had been thoroughly
negotiated by the parties concerned, there Should be an attempt to disseminate the
results as widely as possible before submitting them to the Conference.
The CHAIRMAN said that the representative of Pakistan had suggested a sound
guideline which he was willing to follow.
Mr. VALENCIA-RODRIGUEZ (Ecuador) said that his delegation fully supported
the proposed outline of procedure, which could lead to tangible results. The material
provided by the Caracas session was sufficient for serious negotiation, which could be
carried on at informal meetings of the Committee and meetings of regional or other groups.
What was required was.goodwill, and his delegation was prepared to co-operate fully, it
being understood that the negotiations would. not lead to any abandoning of the rights
of "rates. His delegation would listen to all points of view in order to arrive at
equitable formulas, and it wished to emphasize once again that the essential need was
for understanding.
The CHAIRMAN said that if he heard no objection, he would take it that the
outline of proceduxr prepared by the officers of the Committee was adopted.
It was so decided.
Mr. GERMAN ZEA (Colombia) congratulated the Chairman on his election and said
he hoped that with. his help, agreement could be reached in the Committee.
He then paid a tribute to Ambassador Andres Aguilar of Venezuela for the work he
had done as Chairman of the Second. Committee at the second session.
Mr. ZEGERS (Chile) requested that the Chairman's statement be reproduced
in extenso.*
It was so decided.
The meeting rose at 11.45 a.m.
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