Soviet vetoes Aust. Antarctic choice

Press, 11 June 1982, Page 13

Soviet vetoes Aust. Antarctic choice

NZPA Hobart The Soviet Union is said to have vetoed an Australian proposal that a Chilean be appointed first president of a planned international Antarctic Marine Living Resources Commission. The Soviet move came at a 16-nation conference in Hobart to co-ordinate international efforts to protect the delicate environmental balance of the Southern Ocean, according to a report in the "Melbourne Age." The veto on the presidency of the proposed commission was. one of several strong stands taken bv the Soviet

Union, frustrating the conference. 'After.the veto of the Australian proposal for a Chilean president, the compromise choice was for an Australian. who is yet to be appointed, . Other member nations would subsequently share the presidency in alphabetical order for three-year terms, the "Age" reported. The report said that as well .as its veto on a Chilean president, the Soviet Union had demanded, and achieved, an extremely restrictive attitude on - international observers. The conference had in ef-

feet agreed that all meetings of the commission would be held in private and that any nation could veto the attendance of any observer at any time. The chief executive officer of the commission’ was expected to be an Australian. Dr Dairy-Powell, an assistant in the Federal Department of Science and Technology. the report said. The Soviet Union was pushing hard to have a Soviet-appointed assistant chief executive officer. Australia had told the Soviet Union it would have no objection to a Soviet deputy as long as the appointee was an Antarctic scientist. said the report. The Australian ’ Government had rejected outright.a Soviet request for permission to establish a permanent mission with full diplomatic immunity at the proposed Hobart headquarters of the new commission. The report said a basic division at the conference was between those nations whose main interest was protecting their fishing activities in Antarctica, and the “conservation" nations who want to protect the delicate Antarctic ecosystem. The Soviet Union; Japan, and Poland are among the fishing nations, an,d Australia, the United States, and New Zealand are among the conservation' nations- .