500 



U.N. Debate on Use of the Ocean Floob 



The following countries, listed in the order in which they spoke, addressed the 

 questions raised by the First Committee of the General Assembly by the Maltese 

 item dealing with the ocean floor : 



Malta Turkey 



United Kingdom United Arab Republic 



United States of America Madagascar 



Venezuela Afghanistan 



Ireland Greece 



U.S.S.R. Tunisia 



Norway Belgium 



Netherlands Bulgaria 



Republic of China Mexico 



Libya Australia 



Somalia Peru 



France Japan 



Nigeria Yugoslavia 



Chile Canada 



Ghana Jamaica 



Poland Iran 



Trinidad and Tobago India 



Ceylon Cyprus 



Honduras Boliva 



Brazil Thailand 



Austria El Salvador 



Sweden Argentina 



Tanzania Romania 



Colombia Indonesia 



Iceland Philippines 



Sierra Leone Byelorussian SSR 



Italy Finland 



Liberia Hungary 



Ecuador Czechoslovakia 



(The provisional verbatim records of the debate in the General Assembly are 

 attached for the files of the Committee.) 



Mr. Reinecke. Could you tell me what position France took on this 

 particular question ? 



Mr. Popper. They were on the cautious side, as I recall it. The 

 French and the Belgians wanted a very restricted mandate, something 

 along the line we now have in the resolution. 



Mr. Reinecke. And you mentioned one country abstained. 



Mr. Popper. That was Gabon, and we doubt that the representa- 

 tive of Gabon could have abstained on any substantive ground. He may 

 have been cautious. 



Mr. Reinecke. What was the actual vote ? 



Mr. Popper. Ninety-three in favor, one abstention, and none against. 

 This was in committee. This will probably go before the full Assembly 

 in the next few days and then it will be a resolution of the General 

 Assembly. 



Mr. Reinecke. There were no negative votes ? 



Mr. Popper. There were no negative votes. 



Mr. Reinecke. Which of the three categories would you put the 

 United States in ? 



Mr. Popper. I think you would put the United States in the cautious 

 category. We certainly were not able to sign on to all of the specifics 

 of the Maltese proposal. I think we stated we did not think the time 

 had come to deal with the basic objectives of the proposal. 



