The 28th Session of the ISA Council, Part I, opened on March 16, 2023, in Kingston, the capital city of Jamaica. Jamaica, Germany, France, Russia, Singapore and more than 30 other members of the ISA Council dispatched delegations, and observers, including the US, the Pew Charitable Trusts, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, and Center for Polar and Deep Ocean Development, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, were present without voting rights. Amb. Chen Daojiang, head of China’s delegation and Permanent Representative to the ISA, led the delegation, and delegates were from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Natural Resources, and contractors, including China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association, Minmetals, and Beijing Pioneer Hi-Tech Development Corporation

The Session elected Mexico to assume the presidency of this year’s council, and Canada, South Korea, and Ghana to assume vice presidency. Members of the Council, including Germany, Canada, Belgium, and Nauru, briefly stated their principles and standpoints on deep sea environment protection and mineral resources exploration and exploitation. With the analysis from Chard Ross, Professor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the IGF of multiple payment models, the finance model informal working group’s 7th session started.

The Session of the ISA Council will continue reviewing the draft of international seabed mineral resources exploitation regulations, and hold discussions on the progress in the development of exploitation regulations, the enforcement of exploration contracts, the operation of the Enterprise and the Economic Planning Commission, and intersessional work.