The Latin American countries have played a very important and constructive role in the development of the modern law of the sea. They participated actively and positively in the preparation of all the parts of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, that was open for signature in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 10 December 1982, but their most important contributions are related to two specific areas which happen to be the most innovative parts of the Convention: the new concept of the exclusive economic zone (Part V) and the régime of the sea-bed and ocean floor beyond the limits of national jurisdiction (Part XI). In order to appreciate the importance of these developments, one has to bear in mind that the creation of the exclusive economic zone concept was part of a larger package deal which included the precise determination of the maximum breadth of the territorial sea, the special régime for straits used for international navigation and the special régime for archipelagic States. Likewise the new concepts of the exclusive economic zone and the international area of the sea-bed and ocean floor required a more precise determination of the outer limit of the continental shelf. These innovations thus had a major impact on most if not on all parts of the convention.