Malta is proposing that the General Assembly requests the United Nations Secretary-General to consider the establishment of a framework to coordinate the work on ocean governance being undertaken both within and outside the United Nations.

The Prime Minister made the proposal when he delivered a key note address on Monday entitled, ‘Protecting our Oceans for Present and Future Generations’, during a symposium organised by The Nippon Foundation in Tokyo, Japan.

The new mechanism would make recommendations to the General Assembly, assisting it with the formulation of a global strategy to ensure a holistic approach towards ocean space in the spirit of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“I hope that our initiative will receive widespread support to ensure its implementation in the interest of present and future generations. Our oceans need our protection as much as humanity needs them for their survival,” Joseph Muscat said.

Nippon Foundation chairman Yohei Sasakawa has in the past appealed for the establishment of an Intergovernmental Panel for Comprehensive Ocean Governance, an idea which Malta had supported.

Through the Nippon Foundation, 153 graduates from 66 states have been trained at the IMO International Maritime Law Institute Institute in Malta.

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