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IV. Organization of the Habitat II Conference

The Secretariat appealed for States to inform them of the size of the delegations that would attend. It suggested that there may be separate NGO and local government fora, separate round-tables and fora on special issues, private sector implementation of a trade fair, and a technology forum. In elaborating on the separate round-tables and fora, it proposed separate fora for academics, mayors, local government, non-profit groups, community organizations and so on. Each of these fora could produce a statement and participate in thematic round-tables. The Chair asked delegates if they would prefer the NGO forum to be a part of the main conference.

Turkey described the preparations underway in Istanbul. The Conference will be housed in existing conference facilities. There are five buildings within walking distance of each other and major hotels. There is a total seating capacity of 10,000, with the largest hall seating 4,000. The US proposed that NGOs have their own forum and somehow take their recommendations through to the main body. It also suggested that other major fora be held at the same time, for example a major forum of cities could meet during Habitat II. Sweden suggested that new types of participation should be envisaged, perhaps through using new types of technology to bring a lot of people and information to the conference (implying some type of visual link-up), which would save energy and bring in the local dimension. Mexico, Chile and the US all supported the idea of a trade fair, and Turkey announced that it was already evaluating proposals from experienced firms in conducting such fairs.

The most controversial organizational issue was a suggestion by the US that the 15th Meeting of the Commission and the second PrepCom, both scheduled for Nairobi in April 1995, overlap and not run longer than a total of two weeks. This was resolved on the final day when it was decided that the two meetings would overlap in Nairobi, and a third session of the PrepCom will be held in early 1996. [Return to start of article]