JAMAICA, Kingston (21 July 2016) - - Mr. Michael W. Lodge of the United Kingdom was today elected, by consensus, Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority at its 22nd Session in Kingston. He has since 2011 been deputy to the Secretary-General of the Authority and its Legal Counsel since 2007.

He succeeds Mr. Nii Allotey Odunton of Ghana, who has been Secretary-General since 2009. The President of the Assembly, Rear Admiral Md Khurshed Alam (Rtd) (Bangladesh), presided over the elections in accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the Authority.

To facilitate the achievement of the consensus an informal indicative vote was carried out with the agreement of the two candidates – Nii Allotey Odunton, sponsored by Ghana, and Michael W. Lodge, sponsored by the United Kingdom. The process was employed in 1996 to elect the first Secretary-General of the Authority, Ambassador Satya Nandan of Fiji.