GOVERNMENT OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS MAJURO, MARSHALL ISLANDS 986960 August 8, CABLE: GOVMAR 1980 The Honorable Wallace O. Green Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Territorial & International Affairs U.S. Department of Interior Office of the Secretary Washington, D.C. 20240 Dear Wallace: The Government of the Marshall Islands appreciated the opportunity to meet with you and other United States government officials on August 6, 1980 to present to you some preliminary reactions to the “Discussion Paper" dated August 1, 1980 prepared by the Department of the Interior (DOI) regarding the implementation of Section 102 of Public Law 96-205. We were quite disturbed however that the United States executive agencies were unable at that meeting to share with us their views as to the requirements imposed on them by the statute or to engage in any meaningful dialogue on this essential first question. We continue to await anxiously such an opportunity for consultations with the United States executive agencies at which time an exchange of views and, we are confident, can take place. a resolution of differences As Secretary deBrum indicated to you in his letter of July 26, 1980, the Government of the Marshall Islands was extremely disappointed that DOI declined to prepare the promised first draft of a scope of work document in time for the August 6 meeting, and indeed had no document of any kind prepared for Secretary deBrum to consider at the time of his meeting with members of your office on July 23, 1980. Although he received the "Discussion Paper" by cable in Geneva, Switzerland only Saturday morning, August 2, 1980, and it provided no clear indication of the Department's thinking, Secretary deBrum, nevertheless, immediately interrupted the Marshall Islands participation in the crucial United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea to return to Washington in the hope that clarification of the Department's views could be obtained in a meeting with you. Regretably, 4Osa7s