Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the US to ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office: We have regular dialogue with United States on maritime issues, including on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The United States is aware of our support for UNCLOS and Foreign Office legal advisers and officials regularly raise the issue with US counterparts to encourage the US to become party.

| Hansard

2259