STATEMENT BY MR NATHANIEL KHNG, COUNSELLOR (LEGAL), PERMANENT MISSION OF SINGAPORE TO THE UNITED NATIONS, TO INTRODUCE DRAFT DECISION A/77/L.62 UNDER AGENDA ITEM 72(A) ON OCEANS AND THE LAW OF THE SEA, GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 18 APRIL 2023

1 On behalf of Ambassador Rena Lee, the President of the Intergovernmental conference on an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, I have the honour of introducing draft decision A/77/L.62.

2 The conference met at its resumed fifth session from 20 February to 4 March 2023.  At the close of the session, the conference decided to establish an open-ended informal working group tasked with ensuring the uniformity of terminology throughout the text of the draft agreement that was finalised at the session and harmonizing the versions in the six official languages of the United Nations.  The conference also decided to resume at a later date once the open-ended informal working group had completed its work, with a view to adopting the draft agreement in all six official languages.

3 Draft decision A/77/L.62 is based on the decisions of the conference, which were adopted by consensus.  It proposes that the General Assembly requests the Secretary-General to provide the necessary support and services to the open-ended informal working group and to convene a further resumed fifth session of the conference on 19 and 20 June 2023, tentatively, or on a date to be determined in consultation with the President of the conference, not in parallel to a plenary meeting of the General Assembly, and to provide it with full conference services.

4 My delegation hopes that the General Assembly will adopt this draft decision without a vote. Thank you.

. . . . .