ABSTRACT
One of the large rooms ordinarily used by committees of the General Assembly, the delegates gathered for the Opening Session of the organizational Meeting. Before the session began, the Secretariat distributed written texts with the exact words that Yasushi Akashi and Edmond Jayasinghe would use to guide the Meeting to confirm the decisions that had been made behind closed doors. Turning to organizational matters, Jayasinghe noted that "following prior consultations" the Bulgarian and Australian delegates had been agreed upon as Vice-presidents of the Meeting, and Sohrab Kheradi would be Secretary-General; without discussion, they were declared chosen. The real procedural decision-making of the Meeting, like the pre-Meeting procedural wrangling, was done in closed session. The Seabeds Treaty Review Conference rules provided that non-governmentai organizations could attend plenary meetings and receive copies of Conference records, but those rules did not permit non-governmental groups to speak to the Conference.
