asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a further statement on the Conference on the Law of the Sea.

The Third Session of the Conference in Geneva is expected to end on 10th May. I visited the Conference from 2nd-4th April. I believe that there is a good prospect that agreement in principle on the main issues before the conference may be obtainable by the end of this session. The United Kingdom delegation is playing an active rôle and on 21st March co-sponsored, together with eight other delegations, a set of draft articles on the prevention, reduction and control of marine pollution.