HAMBURG, 4 March. Public sittings in the M/V "Saiga" (No. 2) case (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines v. Guinea) will open at 10.00 a.m. on Monday, 8 March 1999. The hearings will be held in the courtroom at the temporary premises of International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, Germany. The hearings will take place over two weeks, with two sessions each day. The morning session will take place from 10.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon and the afternoon session will be held from 2.00 to 4.00 p.m.

The first round of oral proceedings will take place in the first week, with oral argument for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines scheduled for Monday to Wednesday of this week and for Guinea for Thursday to Saturday of this week. Both parties will have the opportunity to reply to each others oral presentations in a second round of pleadings during the following week. In each round, the Tribunal will hear the applicant, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, first followed by the respondent, Guinea.