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SUMMARY OF THE RESUMED PREPCOM FOR THE CONFERENCE ON THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES: 7-11 MARCH 1994

The Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States met in a resumed session from 7-11 March 1994 at UN Headquarters in New York to complete preparations for the Conference. The Conference, which will be held in Barbados from 25 April - 6 May 1994, is one of the outputs of the United Nation Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

The Committee spent the majority of the week in informal sessions negotiating two sections of the Programme of Action for the sustainable development of small island developing States (SIDS) that remained in brackets at the conclusion of the September session of the PrepCom: the preamble and Chapter XV, "Implementation, Monitoring and Review." The other 14 chapters had been largely agreed upon in September. After a week of hard work, including night sessions, however, Chapter XV appeared to have more brackets than when the meeting started. A number of crucial issues, including institutional follow-up to the Conference, still must be resolved. Since there are no more opportunities for the PrepCom to meet, the responsibility for reaching agreement on the Programme of Action will fall to the Main Committee at the Barbados Conference.