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ARTICLE 11 -- FIELDS TO BE COVERED IN NATIONAL ACTION PROGRAMMES:

Austria, supported by Burkina Faso, Canada, Chad, Uzbekistan, Mali and Tanzania, affirmed the importance of Article 11 in describing the types of activities that should comprise national action programmes. China, supported by Brazil, the Russian Federation, the EU, the US, Australia, Switzerland and Finland, called for the deletion of the entire article and suggested instead that this list of the 13 fields be placed in an annex. Sweden noted that it was awkward to have a non-mandatory list of activities within a legally-binding Convention. Saudi Arabia highlighted the difficulty in prescribing fields without fully understanding the capacities of the affected countries. Kenya raised fears that by relegating this article to an annex, it would minimize the important commitments that were made in Geneva and Nairobi.

The African Group reformulated the Article and presented its new draft, which is clearer and more concise than the version contained in the Secretariat's draft. It contains a list of 11 fields to be included in national action programmes. Brazil, supported by Mexico, commented that although this is an improvement, this type of detail regarding the contents of the national action programmes should not be incorporated into the body of the Convention. Instead, it should be included in an annex. China and Japan said that until the precise nature of the regional annexes is defined, discussion on this article should be postponed. Mali, on behalf of the African Group, said that Article 11 is indispensable in the text.