The Fiji Delegation to the 21st Session of the International Seabed Authority, in its national statement at the Authority's Assembly today, emphasized the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources. It called for the Authority to play its part faithfully, doing all it can to ensure that humanity's call for "the future we want" is realized.

Mr Chair,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

We have heard today from the Permanent Representatives of Senegal, Peru, Palau,  and Sweden and from Remi Parmentier of the Global Ocean Commission.  For many of you, what they have told you today is not news.  Those of you who have been immersed in these matters for a while, know the health of our oceans and seas is imperilled.

The Governments of Fiji and Grenada formalized diplomatic relations at a ceremony at the Permanent Mission of Fiji to the United Nations in New York on 23 June 2015. Grenada’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Denis Antoine, and his Fijian counterpart, Ambassador Peter Thomson, signed a joint communiqué establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries.