§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the United Nations law of the sea conference will resume; and what are the major issues unresolved.
§ Mr. Luard:The eighth session of the conference will take place in Geneva from 19th March to 27th April.
The major unresolved issue is the creation of an international regime for the exploration of deep seabed mineral resources, in a manner which will be beneficial to industrial and developing countries alike. Others are the definition of the outer edge of the continental margin, the principles of delimitation of maritime zones between States and marine scientific research.