ENB:08:10
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CLOSING SESSION
The PrepCom came to a close on Friday afternoon, 10 September 1993.
Although the Chair had hoped to have one more informal negotiating
session during the day on Friday, not all delegates were prepared
to return to the table to further negotiate the controversial
issues in Chapter 15 and the preamble. To further complicate
matters, there was no possibility of getting interpretation and
other conference services for a Friday evening session, so that the
Chair was forced to conclude the PrepCom at 6:00 pm.
In its final session, the PrepCom adopted the following decisions:
- To recommend to the General Assembly that the Conference be held from 25 April - 6 May 1994 in Barbados.
- To recommend to the General Assembly that one day of pre-Conference consultations take place on Sunday, 24 April 1994.
- To adopt A/CONF.167/PC/L.7, "Information needs on current donor activities in support of sustainable development in small island developing States." This decision, proposed by Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand and Sweden, requests the Secretary- General, in consultation with the relevant UN agencies and organizations to prepare a report containing relevant information on donor activities in support of sustainable development in SIDS. It also invites bilateral, regional and multilateral donor agencies, as well as NGOs, to provide similar input. The information is supposed to be aggregated at the sub-regional and sub-sector level. This decision was taken in response to the dissatisfaction by some delegates with the information presented in A/CONF.167/PC/6 on the overview of system-wide activities relevant to SIDS.
- To adopt the draft provisional agenda for the Conference, as contained in A/CONF.167/PC/11.
- To adopt the report of the Preparatory Committee, as contained in A/CONF.167/PC/L.6
After much discussion, two other decisions were taken regarding the
future work of the PrepCom. The first of these involved the status
of documentation. The Chair stated that the PrepCom had before it
document A/CONF.167/PC/L.5 and Add.1, the G-77 and China's "Basic
elements for an action programme on the sustainable development of
small island developing States. L.5 contains the basic elements for
Chapters 1-14 and Add.1 contains Chapter 15. However, the PrepCom
spent considerable time developing these documents and now has
before it an additional informal paper containing the preamble and
basis for action, a first revision of the basic elements paper and
two integrated working texts prepared by the Secretariat. Wensley
requested the delegates to consider exactly what package of
documents they would like to carry forward. As the discussion
progressed, it appeared that all delegates were in agreement and a
decision was taken to request the Secretariat and the Rapporteur to
produce a full, consolidated text called A/CONF.167/PC/L.5/Rev.1.
This text will include the preamble, to be followed by Chapters
1-15, including a basis for action and programme areas for each
chapter. It was also decided to include all comments made during
the discussions on the preamble and Chapter 15 as attachments or an
accompanying document. The text will include a note explaining that
some portions of the text have been agreed to, others remain
bracketed for further negotiation, and other parts of the document
(the preamble and Chapter 15) have not yet been negotiated.
The final decision taken by the PrepCom followed a lengthy
discussion on how best to proceed between now and the Conference.
There was a wide divergence of views as some delegates believed
that the work should be taken forward to Barbados and completed at
the Conference itself by the Main Committee. Other delegates saw
value in conducting intersessional work between now and April.
Numerous delegates expressed their views on the matter. Some of the
concerns raised included the budgetary implications of
intersessional work, the availability of dates on the UN calendar
for a possible second PrepCom, the efficient use of time, the need
to ensure adequate representation of SIDS, and the success of the
Conference. The Chair proposed, and the Committee agreed, to
request the General Assembly to explore options for continuing the
work of the preparatory process.
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