On Friday, 8 November, the Resumed Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Legally Binding Agreement (LBA) on Forests in Europe (Resumed INC-Forests4) continued in Geneva, Switzerland, with an early morning session of the contact group on outstanding issues, co-chaired by Ingwald Gschwandtl (Austria) and Liubov Poliakova (Ukraine). That examined a matrix of secretariat functions as laid out in article 14 of the LBA along with which organization various delegations thought should fulfill them and why.

When plenary convened, Gschwandtl and Poliakova reported on the work of the contact group, while Jolyon Thompson (UK), chair, legal expert group, reported that his group had finished work on Thursday evening on all but six articles of the draft negotiating text (DNT).

A proposal to start negotiating a package deal based on UNECE as the lead in a joint LBA secretariat was supported by many delegations, but opposed by a block of countries. When the block suggested taking some of the outstanding issues to a diplomatic conference, several others said it was not a viable option.

Plenary broke for lunch and reconvened at 1pm to hear positions about how to move negotiations forward. Delegations again diverged over whether it was worthwhile to explore the option of a diplomatic conference. The contact group reconvened to discuss legal aspects of adoption, servicing and administering the LBA under a joint secretariat, and what a diplomatic conference might entail. The legal expert group also finished examining the remainder of the DNT.

When the plenary reconvened at 5:55 pm, Gschwandtl and Poliakova reported on the contact group discussions. The Committee discussed questions regarding the arrangements of a possible diplomatic conference, and whether all outstanding substantive issues needed to be resolved before bringing the text to a conference. The Committee broke at 7:45 pm to allow for consultations.
Plenary reconvenes at 9:28 pm to consider and approve the work of the legal experts group.

Chair Heino gavels meeting to a close at 4:30 am.