STATEMENT BY AMBASSADOR BURHAN GAFOOR, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE TO THE UNITED NATIONS, TO INTRODUCE DRAFT RESOLUTION A/79/L.55, AGREEMENT 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, UNDER AGENDA ITEM 75(C), ON THE AGREEMENT 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, GENERAL ASSEMBLY, NEW YORK, 4 MARCH 2025

Mr President,

1 The General Assembly has before it draft resolution A/79/L.55, entitled “Agreement 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”.  Singapore was honoured to serve as the coordinator for the informal consultations on the draft resolution, and I am pleased to introduce the draft resolution on behalf of the coordinator, Mr Nathaniel Khng, to whom I express my appreciation. 

2 Member States will recall that the BBNJ Intergovernmental Conference adopted the BBNJ Agreement by consensus on 19 June 2023.  It was a great honour for Singapore that our Ambassador for International Law, Ambassador Rena Lee, was able to serve as President of this Conference.  And as Members would know, the BBNJ Agreement was opened for signature in New York on 20 September 2023.  The Agreement presently has 110 signatories and 18 parties, including my own country Singapore.  The General Assembly has adopted a resolution on the Agreement every year since the conclusion of the negotiations on the Agreement.  The first resolution was adopted in 2023, shortly after the adoption of the Agreement.   That resolution, amongst other things, approved the assumption by the UN Secretariat of its functions under the Agreement.  The second resolution was adopted in 2024, and this resolution established the Preparatory Commission for the Agreement to prepare for its entry into force and the first meeting of its Conference of the Parties.  

3 The present draft resolution that is before Members today is the third resolution on the BBNJ Agreement.  Similar to the previous resolutions, it was tabled following open and inclusive consultations on the text.  Changes made to the text of last year’s resolution include updates relating to the latest developments pertaining to the Agreement. Please permit me to briefly highlight key matters addressed in the draft resolution.

(a) First, the draft resolution underscores the importance of the work of the Preparatory Commission established by last year’s resolution, and it welcomes the holding of the organizational meeting of the Preparatory Commission from 24 to 26 June 2024 and recalls the decision to convene the first and second sessions of the Commission from 14 to 25 April and from 18 to 29 August 2025 and to convene at least one session of 10 working days in 2026 on dates to be determined in consultation with the Co-Chairs.

(b) Second, the draft resolution emphasises the importance of the early entry into force and effective implementation of the Agreement, and calls upon all States and regional economic integration organizations that have not done so to consider signing and ratifying, approving or accepting the Agreement at the earliest possible date, ideally before the Third UN Ocean Conference co-hosted by Costa Rica and France, held in Nice, France, from 9 to 13 June 2025, to allow for the early entry into force of the Agreement.

(c) Third, the draft resolution invites Member States, international financial institutions, donor agencies, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and natural and juridical persons to make financial contributions to the voluntary trust fund to assist developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States, in attending the meetings of the Preparatory Commission, and expresses appreciation to those that have already made contributions.

(d) Fourth, the draft resolution notes with appreciation the capacity-building and technical assistance activities relating to the Agreement of States, regional economic integration organizations, the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS), and other relevant UN entities and intergovernmental organizations within their mandates, taking note also of the contributions of other relevant stakeholders in this regard, and encourages the further undertaking of such activities.

(e) Fifth, the draft resolution decides to include the sub-item on the Agreement in the provisional agenda for the 80th session of the General Assembly.

Mr President,

4 Before I conclude my introduction of the draft resolution, please allow me to make an oral revision to operative paragraph 4.  My delegation proposes, on the understanding that this revision will allow the draft resolution to be adopted without a vote, replacing the first word of paragraph 4 with the phrase “Takes note of”.  The BBNJ Agreement’s adoption was hailed as a victory for multilateralism and the United Nations and it is therefore very fitting that, in the year that we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the UN Charter, the draft resolution on the Agreement can be adopted without a vote. 

5 This brings me to the end of my introduction of the draft resolution.  On behalf of the coordinator and my own delegation Singapore, I wish to thank all delegations for their constructive engagement and to express special appreciation to DOALOS for the assistance that they provided throughout the negotiations on the draft resolution.  We also wish to express our deepest gratitude to the delegations that have co-sponsored the draft resolution for their valuable support.  I am very pleased to inform Member States that at this point, 105 countries from all regions of the world have co-sponsored the draft resolution, and I would strongly encourage others who have not already done so to join as co-sponsors today.

6 On behalf of the coordinator, I commend the draft resolution as orally revised to the General Assembly for adoption.

7 I thank you very much for your attention.

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