Co-Chair Medaglia (Costa Rica) opened the closing Plenary, and the rapporteur, Maureen Wolfson (South Africa) introduced the meeting's report UNEP/CBD/ABS-EP/2/L.3, including conclusions on the three agenda items. Co-Chair Medaglia reviewed the process for reaching agreement on the main items within previous Plenary and Working Group discussions, which had reached provisional agreements on the conclusions. Experts reviewed the document providing both substantive and textual comments, and then adopted the report.  



Above photo: The dias during the closing plenary.

CBD Executive Secretary Hamdallah Zedan expressed his hope that the Panel's report would be a useful for the meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on ABS in Bonn. He highlighted the utility of the discussions for clarifying issues, emphasizing that the results were an expression of expert views and not negotiations. 

Right photo: (L-R) Hamdallah Zedan (CBD Executive Secretary) and Co-Chair Girsberger (Switzerland) during the closing plenary.












Co-Chair Medaglia (Costa Rica) thanked the Working Group chairs, presenters, participants and Secretariat for their work, and then adjourned the meeting at 2:30 pm.  


Above photo: Hamdallah Zedan thanking the Co-chairs Girsberger and Medaglia for the successful conclusion of the meeting.

Editor's Note: As a matter of policy, the Earth Negotiations Bulletin does not directly attribute statements in informal discussions when requested to do so.