Co-Facilitators,

I first like to congratulate you on your appointment as well as thank Kenya and Portugal for cohosting the Conference. I align myself with the statements made on behalf of G77 and China and AOSIS.

My delegation is generally comfortable with the themes, we see the importance not it the respective titles but in the discussions in the interactive dialogues to which we look forward. In this respect we hope that they will include among others:

• a stock take on the implementation of the respective SDGs, especially the ones which mature in 2020;

• the interplay between the Ocean and Climate Change and related phenomena;

• how science and technology can help combat IUU fishing, for example by linking our fisheries challenges to universities or research institutions that can develop smart systems at low cost;

• how the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities about the Ocean
  reinforces and interacts with Ocean science and technology for the conservation and
  sustainable use of the Ocean and its resources;

• and how developing countries, in particular Small Island Developing through the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

States, can benefit Finally, SDG 14 does not exist in a silo and other SDGs will feature in the discussions as well.

I thank you.