1081 
tee was not able to agree on a set of general principles to be presented 
at the Twenty-Fourth General Assembly this fall for its approval. 
Nonetheless, some progress was made. The prior debate was fur- 
ther synthesized, and the effects of the discussion at this committee 
meeting will be useful in the on-going debate on this matter. 
The committee will meet next in March of next year, and another 
meeting is scheduled for August of next year. 
For our part, we continue to favor principles along the lines which 
we presented to the ad hoc seabed committee in June of 1968, and 
those formulated by the western powers at the ad hoc committee meet- 
ing at Rio in August of the same year. In essence, the most important 
provisions of these principles were: 
1. That an internationally agreed precise boundary be estab- 
lished dividing that part of the seabed subject to national juris- 
diction over natural resources and the deep ocean floor, which 
would be beyond the limits of national] jurisdiction, and 
2. That internationally agreed arrangements be established 
governing the exploitation of the resources of the seabed beyond 
the limits of national jurisdiction, including dedication of a por- 
tion of the value of the resources exploited to international com- 
munity purposes. 
One of the most difficult problems in the debate on principles is the 
question of a boundary to be established between the offshore limit of 
national jurisdiction and the area beyond which is to be governed by 
these principles. 
As this committee well knows, there is a wide divergence of views in 
the international community as to whether or where such a boundary 
should be located. Some of the Latin American countries would prefer 
not to include any reference to a boundary, for fear this will ultimately 
prejudice their 200-mile and other extensive maritime claims. 
On the matter of international machinery and regime, the discus- 
sion at this recent meeting was the first serious debate on this subject. 
This discussion proceeded in the light of the study prepared by the 
Secretary General, which I have already mentioned. It did not pro- 
duce any agreed recommendations, but did afford an opportunity for 
our delegation and others to expose their preliminary views on this 
matter. 
Our representatives made clear that, consistent with the principles 
which we have already tabled as a proposed resolution, the regime 
must be of a character : 
To assure orderly development of seabed resources ; 
To promote exploration and exploitation of the deep seabed; 
To enable, as feasible and practicable, a portion of the value of 
the resources recovered from this area to be dedicated to interna- 
tional community purposes; and 
To assure accommodation among commercial and other uses of 
the deep ocean floor and marine environment. 
Our representatives also suggested that a regime for the deep seabed 
which would be consistent with these broad purposes should include at 
least provision for: Individual countries to authorize the exploitation 
activities of its nationals and to be responsible for assuring adherence 
to the criteria established for exploitation; and international registry 
for claims: procedures to verify compliance with the criteria estab- 
