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respective competence, to the consideration of these issues within the process it initiated
in Resolution 66/231 (Resolution 68/70). In 2013, in the context of that process, as reques-
ted by the General Assembly, some of the aspects discussed by the Ad Hoc Open-ended
Informal Working Group were further addressed in intersessional workshops held with a
view to improving understanding of the issues and clarifying key questions as an input to
the work of the Working Group (United Nations, 2012a , 2012b , and 2013a ) .
Political momentum for advancing discussions within the Working Group was
provided at the highest political level in 2012 at the United Nations Conference on Sus-
tainable Development, held in Rio. At the conference, states committed to address, on an
urgent basis, building on the work of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group
and before the end of the 69th session of the Assembly - that is before the end of Septem-
ber 2015, the issue of the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity
of areas beyond national jurisdiction, including by taking a decision on the development
of an international instrument under UNCLOS (United Nations, 2012c ). In order to pre-
pare for the decision to be taken at the 69th session, the General Assembly, following the
recommendations of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group at its sixth meet-
ing (United Nations, 2013b ), requested the Working Group, within its mandate established
by Resolution 66/231 and in the light of Resolution 67/78, to make recommendations to
the Assembly on the scope, parameters, and feasibility of an international instrument un-
der UNCLOS. It also decided, to this end, that the Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working
Group would meet for three meetings to take place from 1 to 4 April and 16 to 19 June
2014 and from 20 to 23 January 2015, with the possibility of the Assembly deciding that
additional meetings will be held, if needed (Resolution 68/70).
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