118 
of the General Assembly, at a subsequent session or subse- 
quent sessions no later than 1975. 
The Resolution also provides for the General Assembly 
to review at its 28th session next fall the progress of 
preparatory work and, if necessary, to take measures to 
facilitate completion of the substantive work for the Con- 
ference and any other action it may deem appropriate. As 
a strictly legal matter, such a clause is unnecessary since 
the General Assembly has this authority in any event. Its 
inclusion made it easier to accommodate concerns about pro- 
ceeding to a Conference in the absence of adequate prepara- 
tion. Moreover, we and others have made it clear that we 
will wish to seek an adjustment in the schedule in order 
to ensure that there are more than eight weeks of work in 
1974. 
The present hope of a large majority of States is that 
the kind of schedule outlined in the Conference Resolution 
can be met. This conclusion is necessarily, based upon the 
expectation of important accomplishments in the prepara- 
tory work of the Seabed Committee in 1973. 
As significant as the content of the Conference Reso- 
lution was the fact that it was adopted unanimously. All 
groups involved in its negotiation expressed great sensi- 
tivity to the concerns of other States, and great efforts 
were devoted to arriving at a resolution which could 
command not merely a majority or a 2/3 majority, but gen- 
eral support. This augurs well for the future of Law of 
the Sea negotiations, since a successful Law of the Sea 
Conference will necessarily require a similar attitude 
of mutual respect and accommodation. 
Although not directly relevant to the legislation be- 
fore us, there were other developments in the General As- 
sembly this year that wee less auspicious but which, 
nevertheless, merit reporting. A deep division of opinion 
developed regarding a request by certain land-locked and 
shelf-locked states for a study of the implications for 
the international seabed area of various proposed limits 
of national jurisdiction. It had been our hope that this 
issue could be resolved by negotiation and accommodation, 
but unfortunately, such an accommodation did not in fact 
occur until after a number of close votes and intense 
