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INFORMAL PLENARY

The Plenary met in an informal session on Friday afternoon to consider the Barbados Declaration. Two documents formed the basis for discussions: the proposal for the Barbados Declaration tabled during the resumed PrepCom in March (A/CONF.167/L.2) and an updated draft proposal that was tabled on Friday morning (A/CONF.167/ L.4). The Chair of the informal session, Amb. Besley Maycock (Barbados) welcomed comments from delegates. He proposed the establishment of a contact group that will meet to hammer out the Declaration. Another informal session of the Plenary will be convened on Tuesday afternoon or evening to consider the work of the contact group.

Delegates made both general and specific comments about the draft Declaration, which were repetitious of debate at the resumed Prepcom.They included:

  • Correct the imbalance between the preamble and the operative paragraphs (L.4 contains 20 preambular and 7 operative paragraphs).
  • The Declaration must be written in such a way as to ensure that it is accessible and understandable by all people in the world. Its current formulation, which resembles a UN resolution, may not be appropriate.
  • The Declaration should be relevant to SIDS.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Maycock announced the members of the contact group, which will hold its first meeting on Monday morning. Members include, but are not limited to: Algeria, Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas, India, China, US, Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Australia, Afghanistan, Cape Verde, Seychelles, Micronesia, Samoa, Tanzania, Jamaica, the Philippines and Cuba.

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