ENB:04:90
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WORKING GROUP I
ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS OF THE SECRETARIAT: The Chair drew attention to the G-77 and China’s proposal at INCD-7 (A/AC.241/WG.1(VIII)/L.1) suggesting that the UN Secretariat house the Permanent Secretariat, and distributed a Chair’s draft decision on the subject. He called for an exchange of views on the proposals from UNEP, the UN Secretariat and WMO.
Greece, on behalf of the OECD group of countries, supported by the US and Ireland, noted that they still need additional information, preferably on Monday, regarding: actual proposals on how the G-77 and China proposal would work; whether or not the WMO offer is linked to Switzerland; and what the partial support from UNDP entails. They also noted that UNEP’s Executive Director is expected to present a report on UNEP’s reform at a later date, hence the need to wait.
Costa Rica, on behalf of the G-77 and China, stressed their wish to have the UN Secretariat as the host. Tunisia noted the urgent need to make a decision and urged delegates to bear in mind the need to re-unite the twin conventions on climate change and desertification. The US stressed the importance of studying budgetary implications of each arrangement.
The Chair, underscoring the need to reach a decision at INCD-9, suggested convening a two-hour informal evening meeting during the second week to enable the Group to reach a decision during the formal session. Consequently, the draft decision the Chair had presented on the matter for delegates to fill in the name of the institution to house the Permanent Secretariat was not discussed.
FINANCIAL RULES: Delegates then considered the Draft Financial Rules of the COP, its Subsidiary Bodies and the Permanent Secretariat (A/AC.241/45/Rev.1). The G- 77 and China reserved the right to return to the text. Uganda urged progress on the designation of the institution. The Working Group broke to allow negotiating groups to consult.
Delegates resumed consideration during an afternoon informal-informal. Most of the outstanding text, except for the references to the institutional host, was informally resolved. Language from the financial rules for the Climate Change Convention would be borrowed to: describe the working capital reserve for the General Fund (maintained at a level to be determined from time to time by the COP by consensus); and resources (contributions made each year by Parties on the basis of an indicative scale, adopted by consensus, and based on the UN scale of assessments). The text regarding decision procedures was left pending. Working Group I will review these suggestions Monday or Tuesday.