ENB:04:51
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INFORMAL WORKING GROUP ON FINANCE
Co-Chair Pierre-Marc Johnson announced that the Group would begin a second reading of the paragraphs/articles on finance, as contained in A/AC.241/15/Rev.4. He proposed beginning with Article 21, followed by Article 20 and the other finance-related paragraphs. The Group would then examine the two financial articles in the African Annex. However, by 6:00 pm the Group had only discussed paragraph 1 of Article 21. They agreed that no progress could be made on the African Annex articles until agreement was reached on the main Convention.
ARTICLE 21 -- FINANCIAL MECHANISMS: After 16 interventions in 45 minutes there was still no agreement on the chapeau of paragraph 1. The G-77 and China thought that the first sentence of the chapeau should read: "The Conference of Parties shall seek to maximize the availability of funding for affected developing country Parties, particularly those in Africa, to implement the Convention." The EU and other OECD countries preferred reference to "the Parties." The EU insisted that the COP will not have the time to face all these tasks. Australia said the COP will not meet until the entry into force of the Convention. Therefore, by using the phrase "the Parties" there would not be a delay in funding.
In sub-paragraph (a) (funding pursuant to Articles 16-18), the G-77 and China preferred to use the phrase "assure funding." The EU said that the COP cannot do this. Kenya and China said that this paragraph deals with approaches and policies, not financing.
In sub-paragraph (b) (multiple-source funding approaches), the G-77 and China proposed removing all the brackets.
In sub-paragraph (c) (provision of information on sources of funds), many delegates felt that agreement was in reach. They agreed that the sub-paragraph could read: "provide interested Parties and relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations appropriate information on available sources of funds and on funding patterns in order to facilitate coordination among them and mobilization of [additional] [necessary] resources;" Rather than try to reach agreement on the bracketed words, Johnson suggested that the Group move on.
In sub-paragraph (d) (establishment of mechanisms including trust funds), Canada wanted to maintain reference to channeling financial resources to the local level. China had difficulties with funds that include the participation of NGOs. The G-77 still needed to take a final decision on the subject of trust funds.
In sub-paragraph (e) (mobilization of international funding arrangements/mechanisms), the G-77 and China wanted to ensure that these funding arrangements are at the national, sub-regional and regional levels. France did not agree.
AFRICAN ANNEX: Amb. Mongbe, the Chair of the working group on the African Annex, explained that Articles 14 (Financial Resources) and 15 (Financial Mechanisms) remain bracketed pending the outcome of the discussions on Articles 20 and 21 of the main Convention. Thus, the articles were submitted to the finance group.