Scene of the 34th meeting of States Parties to the UNCLOS (SPLOS). Photo: VOV

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu addressed the 34th meeting of States Parties to the UNCLOS held in New York this week. He called on member countries implement maritime policies responsibly and legally, work together to ensure peace, stability, prosperity and sustainable development.

He affirmed that a peaceful and stable environment to serve the sustainable development in the East Sea can only be guaranteed when countries establish their maritime zones in accordance with the 1982 UNCLOS and seriously exercise their sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction under the convention as well as maintaining restraint to jointly solve disputes by peaceful means in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter and the UNCLOS.

Vu asserted that Vietnam always strives with regional countries to promote respect for the convention, fully implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and negotiate to early achieve a substantive and effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) consistent with international law.

The official also assessed that the agencies formed under the convention all made important contributions to establishing legal order in the maritime and ocean field, referring to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), and the International Seabed Authority (ISA).

He affirmed the importance of determining the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles to delimiting boundaries between the continental shelves of member countries and the international ocean floor area. On this basis, Vietnam calls for practical measures to speed up the CLCS process of reviewing reports on the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles that have been submitted, he added.