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FOURTH SUBSTANTIVE SESSION

The fourth substantive session of the UN Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks was held at UN Headquarters in New York from 27 March until 12 April 1995. General statements were delivered in the Plenary followed by informal Plenary negotiations on the Chair's Draft Agreement A/CONF.164/22. Two contentious articles, Article 14 dealing with high seas enclaves and Article 20 dealing with compliance and enforcement, were considered in informal consultations but considerable disagreement on changes to the text remained. The Chair circulated a revised text of his Draft Agreement contained in two conference room papers (A/CONF.164/CRP.6 and A/CONF.164/CRP.6/Add.1) to a reconvened Plenary during the second week of negotiations, but delegates were reluctant to enter into any negotiation on the Chair's revised text. At the beginning of the third week a composite and speedy review of the Chair's revised text was thwarted by some delegates' lengthy interventions. Further discussion in Plenary was canceled and additionally the Chair suspended all other informal consultations. Plenary reconvened on the final morning when delegates collected the Chair's Revised Draft Agreement contained in document A/CONF.164/22/Rev.1, which was available in all languages. The Revised Draft Agreement consists of 12 Parts containing 48 Articles and 2 Annexes. General statements were made on the Revised Draft Agreement immediately prior to the closure of the fourth substantive session.