ENB:02:10
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IN THE CORRIDORS
Celso Lafer as Vice President of the Conference has given the responsibility for coordinating ministerial level consultations on the forest issue to Klaus T”pfer, Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety of Germany. Consultations were held all day at the German delegation's office and in the conference rooms at RioCentro. An open-ended ministerial-level contact group was scheduled to begin at 10:00 pm last night. Progress on several paragraphs was reported by those close to the consultations.
Discussions at the highest ministerial level on financial resources, coordinated by Amb. Rubens Ric£pero of Brazil and assisted by Celso Lafer and Brazilian Finance Minister Marc¡lio Marques Moreira, were held Thursday.
As well, a ministerial contact group met to resolve the phrase "environmentally [safe and] sound", which is repeated throughout the Agenda 21 chapters on atmosphere and technology transfer and was the subject of heated debate in the Main Committee early Thursday morning. In fact, this issue is the only issue that the Main Committee was unable to resolve in both of these chapters. As of 6:00 pm on Thursday, the ministerial contact group had not yet reached agreement. On Wednesday, Amb. Bo Kjell‚n, the Chair of the contact group, attempted to resolve this issue in the atmosphere chapter by drafting language to be inserted in the Preamble of Agenda 21, which would refer to the fact that new and renewable energy sources should always be safe and environmentally sound, as well as cost-effective. It was hoped that this general statement would obviate the need to refer to "environmentally safe and sound" energy sources throughout the text. It is possible that the Ministers' work will build upon Kjell‚n's proposal.