Fiji Welcomes ITLOS President

Fiji Welcomes ITLOS President

TUESDAY 17th AUGUST, 2010 No:1247/MOI: Fiji welcomes the president of the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea, Justice Jose Louis Jesus and other senior office bearers of the tribunal who are currently in the country attending the ITLOS workshop in Nadi.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Ratu Inoke Kubuabola while opening the workshop said Fiji is proud to have a small island member at the helm of an international body.

The three senior office bearers of the ITLOS that are in the country include the President of the Tribunal Judge Jose Luis Jesus, Judge Chandrasekhara Rao and the Registrar, Mr. Philippe Gautier.

“It is indeed a great honor for Fiji to welcome you to our shores and it is with the deepest of respect that I convey to you the greetings of the peoples and the Government of Fiji,” Ratu Inoke said.

“Thank you most kindly for thinking of our region and seeing it fit to hold this workshop in the Pacific thus continuing the good efforts of the Tribunal in enhancing knowledge about the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the dispute-settlement mechanisms relating to it.”

He added that Fiji, and no doubt in the Pacific, is proud to have a fellow islander presiding over one of the world’s most respected Judicial institutions- ITLOS.

“May I on behalf of the Government of Fiji, thank you and Cape Verde for carrying the flags of Small Island Developing States and performing admirably well at the world stage,” he said.

He told participants from the region that the procedural and technical knowledge and experience of the trio would provide participants with the best and first hand information of how, we Small Island States and Parties to UNCLOS could access and gainfully take advantage of the Tribunal.

ENDS