The 26th session of the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) closed on 14 December 2021 after two days of in-person meetings held in Kingston, Jamaica. Some delegations attended the session virtually. The meetings were chaired by Ambassador Denys Wibaux from France as a President of the Assembly during the 26^th session.

In his opening statement, the Secretary-General of ISA, H.E. Mr. Michael Lodge, welcomed all delegations in Kingston and praised the support of ISA members towards the work under development. 

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The 26^th session of the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) was declared open by the President of the 26^th session, Ambassador Denys Wibaux of France on Monday 13 December 2021.

The Assembly is comprised of all 168 members of ISA, including 167 States and the European Union. The meetings are taking place in Kingston, Jamaica from 13 to 15 December 2021. Some delegations are attending virtually.

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The second part of the 26th session of the Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) closed on 10 December 2021 after five days of in-person meetings held in Kingston, Jamaica. Some delegations attended the session virtually. The 26^th session of the ISA Council is effectively closed.

The ISA Council meetings focused on making decisions on the remaining items of the agenda and the schedule of meetings in 2022.

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The second part of the 26th session of the Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) opened in Kingston, Jamaica, on 6 December 2021. All 36 Council members are in attendance, either in-person or through video link. In addition, twelve delegations of observers are also following the discussions. 

The Secretariat of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) shared on Thursday 14 October with all its Members and Observers the indicative programme of work and the information note on matters for consideration by the ISA Assembly during the in-person meetings of the 26^th session scheduled on 13-15 December 2021.

The Secretariat of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) shared on Friday 1 October 2021 with all its Members and Observers the indicative programme of work and the information note on matters for consideration by the ISA Council during the resumed 26^th session scheduled to take place on 6-10 December 2021.

Following communications held with the President of the Assembly and the President of the Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for the 26^th session, the Secretariat of ISA informed on Friday 17 September all Members and observers of ISA of the new schedule for the meetings of the twenty-sixth session of the Council and the Assembly.

The meetings will take place in person at the Jamaica Conference Center in Kingston as follows:

The 26^th Session of the ISA Assembly was declared open today by the President of the 25^th Session, Senator the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica, who also submitted to all members of ISA a draft decision on the procedure for adoption of decisions by the Assembly through a silence procedure, similar to the process adopted by the 30^th Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The members of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) have endorsed a proposal by the President of the 25^th Session of the Assembly to take decisions of a procedural nature during the 26^th Session of the Assembly, including its opening, through a silence procedure similar to the process adopted by the 30^th Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) today announced that the second part of the 26^th session of ISA initially scheduled to be held in July 2020 will be postponed, due to the COVID-19 epidemic. The session will instead take place in a reduced format in Kingston, Jamaica from 7 to 16 October 2020, with meetings of some of the technical bodies convened remotely starting from July 2020.

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) Secretariat is pleased to convey to members of the ISA Council that Mr. Vladislav Kurbatskyi, the Facilitator nominated by the Council, has decided to extend the deadline for submission of written comments and proposals on his first draft of a mechanism for the election of members of the Legal and Technical Commission (LTC), submitted on 22 April 2020.

The draft can be downloaded here.

Ms. Michele Walker of Jamaica was today, re-elected as Chair of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) Legal and Technical Commission (LTC), at the opening of the 26th Session meetings of the LTC in Kingston, Jamaica. Mr. Harald Brekke of Norway was re-elected as Vice-Chair of the LTC.

The Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) today met with the Head of the Delegation of Ghana to ISA and Coordinator of the African Group Mr. Solomon Korbieh, and Mr. Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik, Head of the Delegation of Norway, to present the latest outcomes of the Africa Deep Seabed Resources (ADSR) project - a joint initiative between ISA, the African Union and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).

The 26th Session of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) opened in Kingston, Jamaica, yesterday with a focus on the Secretary-General’s report on implementation of decisions adopted by the Council at its 25th Session regarding the work of the Legal and Technical Commission (LTC), the development of draft regulations for exploitation of mineral resources, the composition of the LTC, and the status of exploration contracts.

The Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) will open the first part of its 26th session on 17th February 2020 in Kingston, Jamaica. It is expected that Member States will continue their discussions on the draft regulations for exploitation of mineral resources in the Area, including on the financial terms of contracts.