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seabed mining industry has unanimiously advised us that they 

 could not invest under the terms of the Draft Convention, 

 even with the improvements sought by the previous Administra- 

 tion. Therefore, an important part of the review v/ill be 

 to determine what measures must be taken to enable U.S. 

 companies to invest and to compete in this new industry. 



8. Many critics have complained that U.S. mining 

 interests scuttled the treaty negotiations because they 

 didn't want a treaty? 



— First of all, the negotiations have not been scuttled, 

 have they? And secondly, isn't it correct that the mining 

 industry wants a treaty for the purpose of ensuring its 

 rights to make so as to protect its investment? 



A. You are quite right in saying the negotiations have not 

 been scuttled. The decision to conduct the review was made 

 to enable the Administration to consider carefully its law of 

 the sea interests before the Conference adopted a final treaty 

 text. Prominent Members of Congress and representatives of the 

 oceans mining industry, the financial community, the academic 

 community, the petroleum industry, the aerospace industry, and 

 marine scientists advised us of serious problems raised by 

 Draft Convention. 



The seabed mining industry would prefer a multilateral 

 treaty accepted by a large number of nations to protect its 

 interests. But in order to protect those interests, such a 

 treaty must establish a regime capable of attracting investment. 



