ENB:05:87 [Next] . [Previous] . [Contents]

---

COW REVIEW OF MINISTERIAL CONSULTATIONS

The COW, chaired by Mostafa Tolba, convened at 10:35 pm. Tolba invited the ministerial chairs of working groups to introduce their reports and invited delegations with further amendments to consult with him between 12:00 noon and 1:00 pm on Friday. On the climate change discussions, VENEZUELA said a proposed amendment on developing countries had not been taken into account. IRAN and SAUDI ARABIA expressed difficulty with the text. On the finance discussions, the US said he could not accept the “take it or leave it approach” adopted regarding the text produced by the ministerial co-chairs, and called for negotiations. INDIA, BRAZIL, BELARUS, IRAN, SAUDI ARABIA, GERMANY, VENEZUELA and JAPAN expressed serious difficulty with the text. Minister Jan Pronck said that, in the event of negotiations on the text, he would negotiate on behalf of the EU. He assured the G-77/CHINA that the text would be much worse and that he would have to make strong reservations.