Following the start of a series of meetings led by the Chilean Foreign Ministry at the headquarters of the United Nations (UN) in the emblematic North American city, the parliamentarian and member of the national delegation assessed the preparatory stage that aims to establish the permanent secretariat of the international BBNJ treaty in our country.
During this meeting, and in the context of the first meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the Agreement for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity in Waters Beyond National Jurisdiction, also known as the High Seas Agreement or BBNJ Agreement, which takes place between June 24 and 26 in New York, the senator for the PPD, Ricardo Lagos Weber, who traveled to the United States as a member of the national committee headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alberto Van Klaveren, valued the presence of the delegation on American soil and which has as one of its main objectives to join forces and common support so that the city of Valparaíso is awarded the permanent headquarters of the international secretariat of the High Seas Agreement, or BBNJ (for its acronym in English), as the treaty that protects biodiversity in international waters is known, and of which Chile is one of the countries that has ratified the text.
In this regard, and after the start of the cycle of meetings at the UN headquarters, the parliamentarian for the Valparaíso region commented, through his social networks: “We are at the United Nations, at the main headquarters of the organization in New York, being part of the delegation headed by the Foreign Ministry and Minister Van Klaveren (Alberto), for the first preparatory meeting for the Treaty for the Protection of Biodiversity in the High Seas (BBNJ), read, the treaty that will allow us to protect the ocean beyond our 200 miles (of national maritime territory) and with respect to which, Chile has a very important challenge, which is to get the headquarters of that treaty to be in Valparaíso,” he said.
Regarding what follows for the next few days in said instance, he clarified that “we will have a series of parallel activities that, together with what is happening in this room, will have the space for the State or the government of Chile to promote that headquarters in Valparaiso. As I noted, the activity is headed by Foreign Minister Alberto Van Klaveren, Ambassador Narváez, and senior professionals from the Chilean Foreign Ministry, along with Mayor Jorge Sharp of Valparaíso and representatives of Governor Rodrigo Mundaca,” he concluded.
The Preparatory Commission for the final ratification of the High Seas Agreement is the instance in which the states that are part of the United Nations will address the matters that must be resolved before the text comes into force, including the structure and headquarters of the treaty secretariat, to which the delegation headed by the national Foreign Ministry hopes that the world body ratifies Valparaíso as its permanent headquarters.
