Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf - New Zealand statement

Thank you, President.

We would like to express New Zealand’s support for the important work of the Commission and the progress made over the past year. We are conscious of the ongoing heavy workload and the need to move through the backload of submissions in a timely manner.

In this regard, we note the remaining vacancy on the Commission and encourage urgent consideration of steps to be taken to ensure the full membership of the Commission. We note the Commission’s concern that the vacancy has a detrimental effect on its workload and ability to reach quorum. We welcome the Commission’s adjustments to its working methods to address concerns raised by States at the 27th meeting, particularly to reduce situations where there is a substantial difference between the recommendations prepared by the sub-commissions and those approved by the Commission.

Despite progress made on the conditions of service, we are aware that further work is needed to identify more permanent solutions. The preliminary internal survey was a useful step and appears to have confirmed that there are a range of issues that need to be addressed to continue the high quality work of the Commission. We encourage further consideration of solutions and welcome the work of the coordinators of the open-ended working group on the conditions of service of members of the Commission. Finally we are pleased to announce that New Zealand has made a contribution to the trust fund, to facilitate the participation of developing country members.

Thank you.