AMIDST the celebration of Jamaica’s 40th anniversary of Independence, the eighth session of the International Seabed Authority began Monday with meetings of the Assembly and Council at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston.

Delegates began arriving a week ago, some to attend a technical workshop on scientific issues related to environmental aspects of deep-seabed mining.

Other delegations arrived at the weekend to a warm Independence welcome at the Norman Manley International Airport.

High on the agenda of the two-week session is consideration on ways to regulate prospecting and exploration of deposits of polymetallic sulphides and cobalt-rich crusts — the two newest categories of mineral discoveries in the deep ocean.

Experts say commercial exploitation of the newly discovered minerals is expected to occur sooner than polymetallic nodules, for which the authority has already devised mining regulations.

The authority will also consider the future course of its work, notably plans to step up its promotion and co-ordination of marine scientific research related to the seabed environment. These are described in the annual report by the authority’s secretary-general, Satya N Nandan, and in his budget proposals for the next two years. The proposed budget contemplates expenditures of $10,509,700 in 2003-04, less than one per cent above the current level.

At the Assembly’s opening session Monday, Martin Belinga-Eboutou of the Republic of Cameroon was elected president of the 138-member body. Nominated by Senegal on behalf of the African group, he is his country’s permanent representative to the International Seabed Authority.

Meanwhile, the Council of the authority, meeting in the morning, adopted its agenda for the current session, then adjourned to allow the group of Latin American and Caribbean states to meet to decide on its candidate for president of the 36-member body. The Council is the executive organ of the authority.

The International Seabed Authority was created in 1994, upon the entry into force of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is charged with managing the mineral resources of the deep seabed beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, as a common heritage of mankind. All parties to the Law of the Sea Convention are automatically members of the authority. The current membership is 138, up from 135 last July. The newest members are Bangladesh, Hungary and Madagascar.