ENB:09:24
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COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
The Chair, Mr V. Koester (Denmark) requested that the Committee assess and consider the proceedings of the three open-ended contact groups established by the Committee. He commended the efforts made by the Chairs of contact groups and the collective work carried out by the delegations. Agenda Items 6.4, 7 and 8: The Chair of the contact group, Mr. A. Lazar (Canada) introduced the draft decision on the clearing-house mechanism as contained in UNEP/CBD/COP/1/CW/L.4. He noted that there was an omission on Paragraph 3, line 3, and added the word “costed” after the word “concrete.” Since the decision was adopted without any objections, the draft decision submitted by G-77 and China was withdrawn. With regard to the draft decision on SBSSTA as contained in UNEP/CBD/COP/1/CW/L.8, he noted that in paragraph 2 , line 3 “and Article 25" should be added. after ”the Conference of the Parties." In paragraph 4, “to be held in Paris, from September 4-8 1995" was added, and Item 5 (preparation of matters on which advice from SBSTTA is required for COP-II) remains bracketed. He said that this issue can only be addressed on completion of the discussion of a medium-term work programme. The Chair also reported that the group has finalized a draft on the input of the COP to the CSD, with the exception of one paragraph which will need to be updated upon the completion of discussions on the medium-term work programme.. He said that this was a more difficult task because the group had decided to include a brief political statement on the issue. Agenda Items 6.1,6.2 and 6.3: The Chair of the contact group, Dr. J. Ashe (Antigua and Barbuda) reported on the progress made on the issues of: policy, strategy, programme priorities and eligibility criteria; institutional structure to operate the financial mechanism; and list of developed country Parties and other Parties. He said that the second meeting of the group had been convened this afternoon to consider the results of intensive consultations. He said the contact group adopted text that contained the results of these consultations. Although the group had recommended that the text be adopted by the Committee of the Whole, the text was not yet available because it was being translated into all languages. The Committee of the Whole will consider the text on Tuesday. Agenda Items 6.5, 6.6, 9 and 10: The Chair of the contact group, Mr. El- Ghaouth (Mauritania) noted that the issues assigned for consideration were extremely complex and that many of them had been raised for the first time here in Nassau. He explained that while agreement has been reached on many issues, several items remain under discussion. On the selection of a competent international organization he said that the decision to designate UNEP as the secretariat had been accepted. He also noted that extensive negotiations have been conducted on financial rules governing funding of the Secretariat and the budget for the Secretariat. In addition, outstanding issues on the medium-term work programme will be resolved by Tuesday. Before adjourning, the Chair of the Committee of the Whole announced that he would consult with all groups on the voting procedure in the Rules of Procedure, as well as the voting procedure on the financial rules.