The commercial value of seabed minerals must be shared proportionately with the country from which they are taken from, says Dennis Francis, President of the United Nations General Assembly.

Francis told Cook Islands News that he discussed this issue with Pacific Islands Forum Chair and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown during a bilateral meeting before the Forum began yesterday.

“We spoke about the fact that in the Pacific region, there are large deposits of minerals and metals on the seafloor, around 30,000 feet beneath the seafloor,” Francis said. “Based on the rules of international law, in the law of the sea, the minerals should only be harvested in recognition of the interests of the countries from which they are taken from.”

“In other words, so you might have the International Seabed Authority, you might give a contract to a company from a developed country or another country who has the technology to go and harvest these nodules, but the commercial value of these nodules must be shared proportionately with the country from which they were taken.”

Francis said that seabed exploration is a very important development for the Cook Islands and the Pacific.

“Because you’ve got thousands of square hectares of minerals buried in the Pacific seafloor,” he said. “And that's an important development for the future.”

Francis and PM Brown also discussed the impacts of sea level rise on the Cook Islands.

Francis said that he and Brown had a long conversation about what can be described as the sociological success of the Cook Islands as a well-knit, strong, cohesive community where everyone pulls together when an emergency or situation requires attention.

On matters of the Israel-Hamas war, Francis said that the UN has 193 Member States and each are sovereign in making their decisions in their own interests.

“If it is raised (during the Forum), it will be dealt with,” Francis said. “The Forum is to devote their attention on the priorities and needs of the Pacific Island states ... to consult and cooperate on what is in their best interest and how they can strategise to make credible progress, for example on this issue of sea-level rise. We are here to support them.”

At a press conference on Monday, Francis said climate change and sea-level rise “are, to be clear, existential, threatening your homes, your homelands, your heritage, your culture, your livelihoods, and your communities”.

“And I refuse to be a bystander to the disappearance and loss of such profound history and heritage, or to the hardship and pain of people, forced by necessity, to abandon their native homeland, rendered uninhabitable by rising sea-levels.”

Francis says he is working with small islands to address these issues, and will be championing them at the UN General Assembly in New York.

“I hope to leave with a robust show of support and clear guidance from leaders in the region about how the UN General Assembly can effectively address these burning issues,” Francis said.

“It is my intention to carry those messages and that advocacy with me to COP28, to the Fourth International Conference of Small Island Developing States, which will take place in Antigua and Barbuda, in the Caribbean, in May 2024.”