TENTH MEETING
DIXIEME SEANCE
DECIMA SESION

(25 November 1987)

The Tenth Meeting was opened at 15 hours
Mohd. Mazlan JUSOH, Vice-Chairman of Commission III, presiding

La dixième seance plénière est ouverte à 15 heures
sous la présidence de Mohd. Mazlan JUSOH, Vice-Président de la Commission III

Se abre la décima sesión a las 15.00 horas
bajo la presidencia de Mohd. Mazlan JUSOH, Vicepresidente de la Comisión III

CHAIRMAN: Distinguished delegates, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the 10th Meeting of this Commission III. As you see in the Order of the Day, we have quite a number of items to settle. There is the adoption of the report in C 87/III/Rep.l and Rep.2, which I trust you have all obtained from the Documents Desk.

Jean-Luc GRAEVE (France): Je souhaiterais poser une question, peut-être motivée par l'ignorance. Je n'ai pas lu ce rapport; je n'en soupçonnais pas l'existence, puisque nous avions fini nos travaux seulement hier soir, et je crois que beaucoup de délégués sont dans ce cas, ils n'ont pas le rapport entre les mains. Donc, nous devons peut-être le lire avant de pouvoir l'examiner.

Le deuxième point est le suivant: je crois que nous n'avons pas terminé nos travaux en ce qui concerne les résolutions contenues dans les documents C 87/LIM/9 et C 87/LIM/14. Alors comment peut-on adopter un rapport sur ces points sans que notre Commission ait voté? Par exemple, je crois que le C 87/LIM/9 était très contesté et qu'il y aura sans aucun doute un vote, alors que sur le C 87/LIM/14 tout le monde était plus ou moins d'accord, et il y a un consensus très large. Je souhaiterais avoir une réponse à mes questions.

A. Daniel WEYGANDT(United States of America): I was somewhat troubled to hear the last intervention because it was my clear understanding that the Order of the Day spelled out quite clearly that we were going to be taking up the report, and C 87/III/REP/1 and REP/2 were listed as the documents to be discussed this afternoon. They were certainly available this morning, at least to my delegation, and I think to everybody else as well. If it is any consolation to the French delegation, I do not think that the contents of the report are so controversial that it is the kind of document which needs to be read with great precision.

Ambassador Pascarelli has stated that we did'do some work in the Drafting Committee, of which I am a member, and we reached fairly broad agreement on the substance. I would therefore plead with the French delegation for their indulgence to go ahead and consider this report now, because it seems that we do not have a quorum with which to deal with the other items on our Order of the Day, but we do have enough members to review this report. So, if I have spoken long enough to allow the French delegation to read this report, perhaps we could go ahead and adopt it!

Almir F. DE SA BARBUDA (Brazil): I would like to refer to what has been said by the delegate of France. We also did not know that there was a report, because my delegation did not receive a report. We need some time to read it.

Mrs Astrid BERQUIST (Sweden): We did receive the report early this morning, so we have no problems in starting the process of adopting it.

Mlle Faouzia BOUMAIZA (Algérie): Tout comme le délégué de la France et celui du Brésil, nous-mêmes venons juste de le demander, quand vous avez parlé de l'adoption du rapport. Effectivement, il était prévu d'adopter ce rapport, mais nous ne l'avons pas reçu ce matin, nous venons juste de le prendre.

CHAIRMAN: At this stage it is quite clear that a number of delegations have not really read the report, so I think it would be to everyone's interest to allow those delegations to read the report. I would suggest that we adjourn for perhaps 15 minutes and then .. I see the delegate of the United Kingdom showing fire! I shall make a compromise - we will resume the meeting after 10 minutes.

The meeting was suspended from 15.10 to 15.20 hours.
La séance est suspendue de 15 h 10 à 15 h 20
Se suspende la sesión de las 15.10 a las 15.20.