UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)

Representatives of Latin American, African countries, G77 members as well as more than 30 other countries called on all parties to strictly implement the  convention, settling maritime disputes through peaceful measures, and ensuring navigation freedom in line with UNCLOS regulations. Addressing the event, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. said that recently, on the basis of UNCLOS, the Philippines filed a carefully crafted and successful complaint at The Hague to clarify the legal situation in the South China Sea (East Sea) to remove the confusion or the pretext of confusion on the part of those violating it. He thanked Vietnamese fishermen for rescuing 22 Filipino crewmen who had an incident at sea on June 9.

In his opening remark of the meeting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the significance of the UNCLOS 1982 in promoting and maintaining peace, cooperation, security, stability and sustainable use of maritime resources.

He pointed to a number of challenges to seas and oceans, calling on countries to fully and effectively implement the convention and related documents, and underlining the need for the international community’s efforts to improve the quality of sea and oceans through the strengthening of the realizing the Sustainable Development Goal, including the goal 14 on seas and oceans