Originally from Natural Resources and the Law of the Sea: Exploration, Allocation, Exploitation of Natural Resources in Areas under National Jurisdiction and Beyond - International Law Institute Series on International Law, Arbitration and Practice, Volume 2

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INTRODUCTION TO PANEL 2

MR. LAIRD: It is my distinct pleasure next to introduce the moderator of our second panel, Dr. Constantinos Salonidis. Constantinos is an attorney at the International Law and Arbitration Practice of Foley Hoag here in Washington, D.C. His practice is focused on international dispute resolution, and most usually in cases involving sovereign clients before panels such as the ICSID, UNCITRAL, and under the ICC Arbitration Rules. Constantinos regularly advises sovereign clients, as I said, on a wide range of public international law issues, such as compliance with obligations under foreign investment treaties, land and maritime boundary delimitation, and international human rights. Constantinos received his LLB from the Democritus University of Thrace in Greece, and has a master’s in public international law from the same university. He is also a graduate, has an LLM, from Georgetown, here, so he’s an alumnus. Very interestingly and in recognition of his expertise, he was awarded the prestigious Diploma in Public International Law at The Hague Academy of International Law. And in 2018, he will serve as the Director of Studies for Public International Law at The Hague Academy. So, congratulations to Dr. Salonidis.

And without further ado, I would like to ask Constantinos to take the mike and introduce the next panel. 

DR. SALONIDIS: Thank you very much, Professor Laird. 
Dear colleagues, I am the moderator of the second panel of today’s conference, titled, “The Exploration and Exploitation of Resources in Areas under National Jurisdiction.” But before I say a few words about the general theme of this second panel and introduce our eminent experts, I must join the other speakers and moderator in thanking our sponsors and, in particular, the International Law Institute and Georgetown University’s Law School for making this event a reality today, and for hosting us so generously in their premises. 
And I must thank in particular Dr. Sabahi, who is affiliated with both institutions. Without his guidance and assistance along the steps of this long process, this event would simply not have happened. 

So, thank you very much, Borzu, once again.

Now, as we have heard already, under the regime established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), coastal States enjoy sovereign rights over the Continental Shelf, which is a maritime zone typically extending up to 200 nautical miles, but sometimes even further than that, from the coast. And they enjoy sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring it and exploiting its natural resources, as the Convention says. Now, there are, however, corresponding obligations of the coastal States, as well as third States’ rights and freedoms in the same maritime area. And of course there are private actors who actualize the rights of the coastal State in exchange for a commercial return. We will be addressing this often intricate web of interests in the next ninety minutes.