UNCLOS can be a pathway to ocean of opportunity for LDCs: Bangladesh

The vast and unexplored resource frontiers of the oceans have the potentials to bring transformative changes to the lives and livelihoods of more than one billion people in the LDCs, Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Rabab Fatima has said.  

“And the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) can indeed be the pathway to an ocean of opportunity for them,” she said.

Ambassador Rabab Fatima was speaking at a high-level event of the International Seabed Authority on the opportunities offered by UNCLOS to LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS. The event held on Tuesday was moderated by Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority Michael W. Lodge. A significant number of Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives including the LDC Chair also attended the event.

As LDCs are among the world’s most resource-constraint economies in the world, the Permanent Representative urged the International Seabed Authority to ensure the fair share of various benefits and opportunities for LDCs in the deep-sea particularly in the areas of marine scientific research, capacity building and access to marine technologies for exploration of resources in the high sea.

Ambassador Fatima is co-chairing the Preparatory Committee for the LDC5 Conference to be held in Doha in January 2022.