Ambassador Satya N Nandan C.F., C.B.E., was elected Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority in March 1996 and re-elected in March 2000 and May 2004 respectively. He has served as Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Fiji and was a representative of his country at the United Nations (1970-76 and 1993-95). He was also Fiji’s Ambassador to the European Union, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands (1976-1980). He has served as a member of UN Committees on Decolonization, Disarmament, Legal and Political matters.
Ambassador Nandan served as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Law of the Sea from 1983 to 1992. During that period, he was the head of the United Nations Office for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea and was responsible for the secretariat servicing the Preparatory Commission for the International Seabed Authority and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
He was Chairman of the United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (1993-95) and President of the meeting of the States Parties to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1994 to 1996).
He served as the Chairman of the Multilateral High Level Conference which negotiated the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (1997 – 2000).
As Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for the Law of the Sea in 1990, Ambassador Nandan initiated, on behalf of the Secretary-General, a dialogue to resolve the problems of Part XI of the Convention and subsequently, as a delegate of Fiji, was Chairman of the informal group (the "Boat Paper Group") that negotiated the Agreement adopted by the General Assembly on 28 July 1994, which resolved those problems and opened the door for universal participation in the Convention.
He also headed the Fiji delegation to the Seabed Committee (1970-1973) and to UNCLOS III (1973-1982). He was among the conference leaders and took an active part in the negotiations on a number of key issues. As Rapporteur of the Second Committee, he composed the single negotiating text for the Chairman on which subsequent negotiations in the Committee were based. In 1975, he served as Chairman of Working Groups on the Exclusive Economic Zone, Delimitation of Maritime Boundaries and the High Seas.
He also co-chaired a private informal group which negotiated the compromise on the difficult issue of passage through straits used for international navigation. In 1977, he was appointed Chairman of Negotiating Group 4 of the Conference which dealt with the participation by landlocked and geographically disadvantaged States in the exploitation of the living resources of the neighbouring exclusive economic zones. He also chaired an informal group on production policy relating to deep seabed mining. He was Chairman of the Group of 77, developing States, (1978-1979).
As the Chairman of the Committee of Ambassadors of the African Caribbean and Pacific States in Brussels he lead the ACP group in negotiations on trade, investment and development aid with the EEC Committee of Ambassadors on a number of occasions between 1976 – 1981. He participated in the negotiations for Lome I, II and III Conventions between the ACP Group of States and the EEC.
He has participated in numerous international conferences and seminars and has lectured and written extensively on the Law of the Sea, the United Nations and related matters. He serves as General Editor of the Law of the Sea Commentary series, consisting of six volumes published by the University of Virginia Center for Oceans Law and Policy. He was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations International School from 1996 to 2001 and was elected again in 2005 to serve a further two-year term.
He holds a Law degree from the University of London and is a Barrister-at-Law of Lincoln’s Inn, England. He is also a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Fiji. He was awarded an LL.D. (honoris causa) by the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada (1995) and a Doctorate (honoris causa) by the University of the South Pacific (1996). He received a C.B.E. in 1978 and was awarded Fiji’s highest honor, Companion of the Order of Fiji (C.F.), in 1997. He was honored with the award of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the President of Germany (1996).
Ambassador Nandan is married and has one son.
