UN General Assembly
1972

110. At the. same time that we hope to arrive at satisfactory solutions in this field we recognize also the importance of establishing a regime for the sea-bed and the breadth of the territorial sea* The Declaration of Principles adopted by the General Assembly at its twenty-fifth session [resolution 2749 (XXV)] is of outstanding importance in that it establishes the principles that are to govern the sea-bed and ocean floor and the subsoil thereof. In that resolution the United Nations has declared that the sea-bed and ocean floor and the subsoil thereof beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, together with the resources of the sea-bed and ocean floor, are the common heritage of mankind. In this sense, no State may claim or exercise sovereignty or sovereign rights over any part whatsoever of the oceanic area. We hope that the conference on the law of the sea that is to be convened next year will be able to consider these specific points and that it will succeed in offering solutions that will take into account the fundamental interests of all countries not only the coastal countries that are to benefit by the international regime that is to be established.