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WORKING GROUPS

AGRICULTURAL BIODIVERSITY: The Open-ended Working Group on Agricultural Biodiversity met briefly during the evening. Chair Manfred Schneider (Austria) informed delegates that the drafting group had been meeting throughout the day and would continue a paragraph-by-paragraph review of the consolidated text, which was drawn from the G-77/China, EU and SBSTTA texts. The discussion continued into the night.

FINANCE: The Working Group on finance issues, chaired by Mohammad Reza Salamat (Iran), began its work during an evening session. Draft decisions submitted by the G-77/China were distributed as conference room papers on the following issues: amendments to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU); policy, strategy, programme priorities and eligibility criteria relating to the access and utilization of the resources of the financial mechanism; guidelines for the review of the effectiveness of the financial mechanism; and additional financial resources. Delegates first considered the amendments to the MOU (UNEP/CBD/COP/3/10). They agreed to delete the paragraph noting that the GEF will operate the financial mechanism until 1999, at which time it will be reviewed. The discussion continued into the night.