VII Encontro Ministerial da Zona de Paz e Cooperação do Atlântico Sul - Plano de Ação de Montevidéu

(Versão em português será divulgada oportunamente)

We, the Ministers of the Zone of Peace and Cooperation of the South Atlantic, hereinafter referred to as “the Zone”, on the occasion of its Seventh Ministerial Meeting, held in Montevideo, Uruguay from 15 to 16 January 2013;
Recalling the resolution 41/11 of the United Nations General Assembly, that solemnly declared the South Atlantic as a zone of peace and cooperation, and called all States of the zone to promote regional cooperation for social and economic development, the protection of the environment, the conservation of living resources, as well as the peace and security of the whole region;
Having realized the need for follow-up on the provisions of the Luanda Plan of Action, adopted by the 6th Ministerial Meeting, held in Luanda from 18 to 19 June 2007;
Welcoming the conclusions and recommendations of the Round Table, held in Brasilia in December 6-7, 2010;
Also welcoming the role of cooperation agencies of Member States in organizing national efforts aimed at enhancing cooperation within the Zone;
Highlighting South-South and triangular cooperation as valuable tools to be used by the Zone to address the challenges of development and to promote economic and social progress;
Having agreed to adopt the Montevideo Plan of Action, commit ourselves to ensuring its implementation as follows:
I. Mapping and Exploration of the Seabed
In order to encourage Member States of the Zone to promote capacity building for scientific research in evaluating the potential of mineral resources in the seabed, as well as the delimitation of continental shelf and the assessment of its mineral resources, including the identification of initiatives and programs of cooperation within the Zone, agree to:
1. Establishment of the outer limit of the Continental Shelf. Exchange practices on the application of Article 76 of UNCLOS, on the establishment by a Coastal State of the outer edge of the continental margin wherever the margin extends beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured;
2. The Area (seabed, ocean floors and subsoil beyond the limits of national jurisdiction). Intensify coordination at all levels within the International Seabed Authority, with a view to fully utilizing the opportunities it offers in promoting the participation of scientists from institutions in developing countries in marine scientific research being undertaken in the Area by international research organizations;
2.1 Encourage the exchange of information among Member States of the Zone on their ongoing programs in this field, as well as on their willingness to cooperate with their peers;
II. Cooperation in the Environmental Area: Protection and preservation of the marine environment and marine living resources and marine scientific
Stressing the crucial role of healthy marine ecosystems and sustainable fisheries for food security and nutrition, as recalled in the outcome document from the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio de Janeiro, 20-22 June 2012) - “The Future We Want” -, have agreed on the following coordinated actions:
1. Strengthen cooperative efforts to ensure that measures taken with regard to the high seas are compatible with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
2. Study and address environmental factors affecting marine ecosystems, including adverse impacts of climate change and ocean acidification and coastal erosion;
3. Cooperate towards the development of capacity to participate in high-seas fisheries through the exchange of experiences and coordination in multilateral fora, as appropriate;
4. Strengthen cooperative efforts on marine scientific research in accordance with Part XIII of UNCLOS;
5. Promote greater benefits for the countries in the Zone from sustainable fisheries, through the development of their own fisheries and the improvement of market access for their fisheries products;
6. Cooperate with a view to enhance capacities, particularly in the areas of science, data collection and reporting, monitoring, control and surveillance, port and flag State control and fisheries conservation and management;
7. Exchange information on practices and policies aimed at avoiding adverse impacts of conservation and management measures on, and ensuring access to fisheries by, subsistence, small-scale and artisanal fisheries and women fish workers, as well as indigenous peoples in the context of the sustainable development of the sector;
8. Exchange practices with a view to reducing by-catch and adopt management measures in accordance with international law for those species that are caught as by-catch and then commercially traded;
9. Enhance cooperation to deter and eliminate IUU fishing, including in the building of capacities to monitor, control and survey fishing activities;
10. Exchange best practices with respect to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity, taking into account that marine protected areas in areas under national jurisdiction constitute an important tool for the sustainability of living marine resources;
11. Enhance coordination within the relevant processes under the United Nations General Assembly on biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, such as the Ad-Hoc Working Group on marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction and the regular process for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment, including socio-economic aspects, including by taking a decision on the development of an implementing agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea;
III. Cooperation in the area of air and maritime transportation and Port security
Also agree to:
1. Enhance and diversify connectivity among Member States of the Zone, both in terms of air and maritime transportation;
2. Identify synergies for further cooperation;
3. Identify measures to expand the scope of the application of the freedoms of the air, with a view to rendering connectivity between the two shores of the South Atlantic financially and economically viable;
4. Exchange experiences on the need for enhanced efficiency of ports, including the identification of possible solutions to silting;
IV. Cooperation on maritime safety and security
Also Agree to:
1. Enhance cooperation among Member States of the Zone on monitoring, control and surveillance of vessels, with a view to combating illicit activities, as well as transnational organized crime at sea in the South Atlantic, including through the exchange of data and training in the operation of the Long Range Identification and Tracking of Ships.

2. Enhance cooperation on search and rescue capabilities.

V. Cooperation in the area of Defense
Also agree to:
1. Increase interaction among their armed forces;
2. Exchange information on policy issues (for example, White Papers on defense, national strategies and doctrines);
3. Consider ways and means to reinforce their naval and airborne capacities;
4. Promote joint military exercises in the South Atlantic among Member States of the Zone;
5. Establish a Working Group on U.N. peacekeeping operations to further explore opportunities for cooperation among the Member States of the Zone.
VI. Public security and combating transnational organized crime
Also agree to:
1. Cooperate in combating transnational organized crime in the Zone, as well as cybercrime, including exchange of experiences and best practices against money laundering and assets recovery;
2. Promote cooperation among competent authorities and relevant institutions at the national level, including capacity building activities;
3. Promote police and judicial cooperation among Member States of the Zone;
4. Explore cooperation initiatives that could enhance the capacity to prosecute suspects and eliminate sources of financing for illicit activities;
5. Exchange experiences in the training of personnel responsible for security and law and order within the Zone;
6. Promote joint investigations and simultaneous operations among Member States of the Zone in order to combat organized crime;
7. Take into account in these efforts the framework provided by the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime which is a fundamental building block for international cooperation in combating transnational organized crime;
8. Promote cooperation and coordination of joint actions among Member States of the Zone to address the global problem of drugs, through a comprehensive approach that addresses the reduction of both supply and demand.

VII. Other areas for cooperation and capacity building
Also agree to:
1. Explore opportunities for cooperation in trade and investment facilitation and to consider the establishment of a Working Group for this purpose;
2. Exchange information and share cooperation opportunities among relevant institutions of Member States of the Zone, including triangular cooperation efforts;
3. Consider instruments for enhanced educational cooperation, including cultural, scientific and technological agreements, with the aim of offering nationals from Member States opportunities to study in other countries within the Zone;
4. Promote, when appropriate, information exchange between the Zone and other cooperation mechanisms in the region, including the Africa-South America Cooperation Forum, taking into account the possibility of extending or replicating initiatives undertaken by the Zone to other sub-regions in the two continents, and of developing projects complementary to those executed by Member States to the extent possible and whenever appropriate, bearing in mind the different complexities, needs, mandates and membership of the different cooperation fora.
5. Promote additional technical cooperation and capacity building initiatives in areas of common interest, such as planning and management in the coastal and marine zone, and oceanography in the tropical Atlantic region;
6. To promote seminars and/or meetings to allow exchange of information and cooperation in all the thematic areas included in this Plan of Action, such as mapping and delimitation of continental shelves and seabeds, security and surveillance of maritime traffic, search and rescue (SAR) operation at sea, and peacekeeping operations, as well as south-south cooperation, maritime resources and environmental cooperation.
7. Deepen dialogue among Member States of the Zone through the Permanent Missions to the United Nations in New York or other relevant fora on issues of the international peace and security agenda, including peacebuilding;
8. Ensure that the Zone has the adequate mechanisms to implement and follow-up its decisions.

Adopted in Montevideo on 15th January 2013.