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IN THE CORRIDORS I

Consultations continued throughout the day in the corridors, in regional group meetings and in Conference Room 9 on the resolution on the organization of work for the interim period. While there seems to be general agreement on the mandates of the two working groups, other areas of the draft resolution have proven to be more problematic than expected. By lunchtime, consensus was still elusive on the role of the Secretariat in the preparation of documentation and whether or not the Chair should be invited to make proposals to the Committee on the organization of scientific and technological cooperation.

With regard to the working groups, it appears as though Working Group I will be responsible for: initiating measures relating to the identification of an organization to house the Global Mechanism; the designation of a Permanent Secretariat and arrangements for its functioning; and financial rules, programme and budget. Working Group II will be responsible for: organization of scientific and technological cooperation; rules of procedure for the Conference of the Parties; procedures on questions of implementation; procedures for conciliation and arbitration; and the system for communication of information for review of the implementation of the Convention and its institutional arrangements. There was also talk in the corridors that the Chairs of these two working groups will be Takao Shibata of Japan and Mourad Ahmia of Algeria.