On 26 January 2023, during an official visit to Belgium, the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), H.E. Mr. Michael W. Lodge, met with Belgium’s Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Justice and the North Sea, H. E. Mr. Vincent Van Quickenborne, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Foreign Trade and the Federal Cultural Institutions, H.E. Ms. Hadja Lahbib.

Ambassador Jan Hendrik van Thiel presented his credentials to the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), H.E. Mr. Michael W. Lodge, as the Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany to ISA during a special ceremony held on 20 January 2023 in Kingston, Jamaica.

From 12 to 16 December 2022, the Secretariat of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) participated in the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP-15, Part 2) held in Montreal, Canada. This was the opportunity to engage at different levels in the discussions pertaining to the adoption of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and ensure complementarity with other international processes.

The Secretariat of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) held the fifth annual meeting of exploration contractors from 5 to 7 December 2022. The meeting was hosted by Allseas and the Technical University of Delft, in Delft, the Netherlands. Forty-two representatives of ISA exploration contractors attended the three-day meeting, either in person or virtually.

On 9 December, the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), H.E. Mr. Michael Lodge, reported on the progress made by the organization since December 2021 at the 77^th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The Secretary-General welcomed the support of the General Assembly to the work undertaken by ISA, especially the resumption of in-person meetings under the 27^th session of the ISA Council and Assembly and progress on the negotiations on the draft regulations for exploitation of mineral resources in the Area.

On 8 December 2022, the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), H.E. Mr. Michael Lodge, was invited to address the plenary meetings of the 77^th session of the United Nations General Assembly in relation to the commemoration of the 40^th anniversary of the adoption and opening for signature of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

On 1 December 2022, the Secretariat of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) successfully concluded the inception workshop of its Sustainable Seabed Knowledge Initiative (SSKI) with the adoption of a clear roadmap of activities to achieve tangible outputs for sustainably advancing the understanding of biodiversity in the deep ocean by 2025. The workshop, organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) of the Republic of Korea, took place from 29 November to 1 December 2022 at the National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea (MABIK) in Seocheon, Korea.

On Tuesday, 29 November 2022, the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), H.E. Mr. Michael W. Lodge, was invited to address the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Conference organized in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

On Friday, 25 November 2022, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) successfully concluded a three-day workshop on enhancing genetic approaches to advance deep-sea taxonomy for biodiversity assessment. The workshop was organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea (MOF) and the National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea (MABIK) in Seocheon, Korea. It gathered experts from the scientific community, ISA exploration contractors, government and regional organizations from 20 countries attending either in person or remotely.