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PLENARY

The fourth Plenary meeting opened with a report from Amb. Estrada on the work of the Committee of the Whole. He stated that the COW had agreed on the draft decisions concerning the Secretariat"s budget, and recommended them for approval under Agenda Item 6. He also stated that a compromise had been reached during discussions on technology transfer and that the decision is currently being translated.

The COW also approved an informal, confidential survey process for achieving consensus on the location of the Permanent Secretariat. The first round of the survey was completed at 4:00 pm, and none of the four cities offering to host the Secretariat received an absolute majority. The delegations representing the four cities have agreed to accept the survey"s outcome. Uruguay noted that the decision process had been transparent and officially withdrew its offer to host the Secretariat in light of the results of the first survey.

The President presented some items to be adopted on the final day of COP-1, including several recommendations and conclusions from INC-11. The COP will also be invited to adopt the following draft decisions from the COW: the roles of subsidiary bodies (FCCC/CP/1995/L.5); the report of the GEF (FCCC/CP/1995/L.1); institutional linkages (FCCC/CP/1995/L.3); financial rules and the indicative list of assessments (FCCC/CP/1995/L.2/Rev.1); the Convention budget for 1996-97 (FCCC/CP/1995/L.4/Rev.1); extrabudgetary funding (FCCC/CP/1995/L.7); other voluntary funding (FCCC/CP/1995/L.8/Rev.1); and the draft decision on technology transfer.

The President stated that there are two agenda items still pending for COP-1: 7(a) Adoption of the report on credentials and 7(b) Date and venue of COP-2. She added that Cape Verde has deposited its instrument of ratification, bringing the total to 128 Parties.