On May 26, 2023, Beijing time, the International Seabed Authority held an online closing ceremony for the international seabed resource exploration contract contractor training programmes of the second half of 2022. Representatives of exploration contractors including the office of the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association (COMRA), the Government of the Republic of Poland, Belgium’s Global Sea Mineral Resources, the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer), the Interoceanmetal Joint Organization, Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. and Tonga Offshore Mining Limited attended, along with representatives of training partners including China’s National Deep Sea Center.
Because of the international pandemic situation, the training under COMRA’s polymetallic sulphide exploration contract was held online from April to July 2022. Entrusted by the COMRA office, the National Deep Sea Center undertook the organization and implementation of the training, providing rich and highly interactive online courses to four international trainees from Kiribati, Ghana, Pakistan and Egypt and completing the training assignment in full.
Under the exploration contracts signed with the International Seabed Authority, each contractor is required to provide training to 10 trainees from developing countries every five years. Going forward, the National Deep Sea Center plans to develop, in line with the ISA’s requirements for in-person training, a set of solutions covering different types of in-person training activities, including scholarship programmes, engineering and technical training, and at-sea internships, to support contractors in fulfilling their contract obligations.
