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WORKING GROUP II

The Group reconvened after a day of informal consultations. The Chair, Amb. V. Koester, introduced agenda item 4.1.8 by noting that Art 20 (2) specifies that the COP shall, at its first meeting, establish a list of developed country Parties and other Parties that voluntarily assume the obligations of the developed country Parties. However, there is no definitive list of developed countries. A number of lists are currently used by various organizations for different purposes. By the end of the discussion no consensus was reached on how the list would be formulated, or if an existing list should be used. Agreement was reached that only contracting Parties would be included in the list. Also, provision will be made to ensure contracting non-country Parties, such as regional economic organizations, can also assume developing Party obligations. A list that defines developed country Parties is required, as it is an obligation for these Parties to contribute financial resources.

The UK, supported by Germany, suggested that the list of developed country Parties should mirror the list of donors to the interim financial mechanism - the GEF. However, several delegates noted that India, China, and Pakistan, among others, donate money to the GEF and would therefore be classified as donor countries. Mexico noted that these, and other countries, are both donors and recipients of the GEF, and would therefore be classified as developed countries according to the UK proposal. Accordingly, the UK amended their suggestion of donors that contribute to the GEF to read "non-recipient donors." However, this created further difficulties as some countries, such as Iceland, would not be regarded as developed. Brazil and Malaysia rejected using a list provided by the proposed interim financial institution, charging that it would be inconsistent to use lists that would enshrine the GEF in the CBD. China suggested that the practice used in the Climate Convention and the Montreal Protocol should be considered. Australia suggested the list developed by the World Bank. Several States supported the proposal that the Secretariat develop a list of developed countries that have already ratified the CBD, as there is little secret about who these countries are. However, this received little support. The Chair referred further discussion of this to the informal group addressing the financial issues under agenda item 4.1.6 and 4.1.7. The suggestion made by the UK, being the only new one, will be added to the Secretariat's document.

INFORMAL GROUPS: The Contact Group on Finances met to discuss the Chair's draft paper on Programme Priorities. Little progress was reported, with more than six hours spent Saturday on the issue of the development and transfer of technologies (paragraph vi).

The Group on Rules of Procedure completed its work on UNEP/CBD/IC/2/CRP.3. The six outstanding issues are: periodicity of meetings; rule 6.1 on observer status; number of officers in the Bureau; voting procedures on finance and biosafety; and the number of official languages.

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