The group corporation is currently devoting active effort to the application for an international seabed contract area. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) formally accepted the group corporation’s application for exploration of a polymetallic nodule contract area in the international seabed reserved area in August of this year, and the defense will take place in Jamaica in February of next year. To steadily advance the preparatory work for the contract-area application defense, on October 9 the group corporation’s Science and Technology Management Department entrusted CRIMM with organizing this consultation meeting on the contract-area application defense.
COMRA secretary-general Jin Jiancai, deputy division director Song Chengbing, and director Wang Chunsheng of the Second Institute of Oceanography attended the meeting by invitation, and company deputy general manager Li Maolin chaired it. At the meeting, the experts described in detail the circumstances of the defenses for China’s two most recent contract-area applications, gave detailed explanations of the matters and issues requiring attention, including the main procedures of the defense, the preparation of defense materials, organization and coordination before the defense, the composition of the defense delegation, the recent extensions of the first batch of international seabed contracts, and upcoming relevant international meetings, and offered valuable suggestions for the group corporation’s contract-area application defense.
Secretary-General Jin held that in its defense the group corporation should give prominence to its strengths in participating in ocean resources development, and should prepare thoroughly with respect to procedure, technology, environment and work plans; it should demonstrate that the group corporation’s commitment to applying for and developing an international seabed contract area accords with the current trends in international marine mineral resources development and meets the ISA’s expectation of a shift in marine mineral resources from exploration toward exploitation, thereby winning the ISA’s support for the group corporation’s contract-area application.
At the meeting, the participating leaders and experts also discussed and communicated with the COMRA experts on various questions concerning the preparation and conduct of the defense. Leaders of the company and of the Changsha Institute of Mining Research said they would do their utmost to support the group corporation’s contract-area application defense work, and thanked Secretary-General Jin and his colleagues for their suggestions and help. Manager Liao Bo of the group corporation’s Science and Technology Management Department, general manager Yin Zhiwei and director Chen Xinming of the Changsha Institute of Mining Research, and other relevant leaders and researchers attended the meeting.
