The UN General Assembly adopted the 70/235 resolution re: The Oceans and the Law of the Sea by 143 votes, a fact which is important in itself as per the developments.
There were only four abstentions.
Mali and the Central African Republic, who have no access to the ocean, Venezuela which has not as yet signed the Law of the Sea, and El Salvador.
Only one country voted against the resolution and that was Turkey.
It is important of course, that eight countries strongly promoted the text and those are Japan, Cyprus, Micronesia, Monaco, New Zealand, South Africa, the Netherlands and Trinidad – Tobago.
We realize that all of them are related to the sea and they all opt to benefit from this resolution, which addresses all aspects of the Law of the Sea and the Oceans.
Therefore we obtain a resolution which comes in actual fact to enhance the Montego Bay Agreement of 1982 as a result.
Additionally, we see how important the initiatives are at this level, since their success reaches a planetary level.
The 55 pages of the text also present the requirement for a new report to take place in the 71th session of the General Assembly.
The text with its structure, (I Implementation of the Convention and related agreements and instruments, II Capacity-building, III Meeting of States Parties, IV Peaceful settlement of disputes, V The Area, VI Effective functioning of the Authority and the Tribunal, VII The continental shelf and the work of the Commission, VIII Maritime safety and security and flag State implementation, IX Marine environment and marine resources, X Marine biodiversity, XI Marine science, XII Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment , including Socioeconomic Aspects, XIII Regional cooperation, XIV Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea, XV Coordination and cooperation, XVI Activities of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, XVII Seventy-first session of the General Assembly) , constitutes new dynamics and it creates prospects.