UN General Assembly
1974

95. Although it did not live up to the expectations of the developing countries, the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, held at Caracas, nevertheless made it possible for the international community to clarify its positions on the major questions debated there. 96. The Government of the Republic of Mali would like, for its part, to reaffirm its attachment to the OAU Declaration on the Law of the Sea with regard to the exploitation of marine resources by land-locked countries, the right of transit and of free access of those countries to and from the sea, and the establishment of appropriate international machinery for the exploitation of the resources of the high seas. 97. We would venture to hope that, at the next session of the Conference, in Geneva, the political will to negotiate and to arrive at final agreements on the exploitation of the sea's resources for development purposes will be manifested.