14 November 2008: Updates on SAICM (reaction requested by 20 Nov)

Dear SAICM National Focal Points for Asia Pacific countries,

This message is to follow up with some developments after the OELTWG Meeting in Rome.

(1) Outcome from the Rome meeting
The official reports from neither the OELTWG meeting nor the informal meeting have not been publiched yet, so I would like to summarise my understanding of the outcomes from these meeting. Please note that these should be checked against the official meeting reports when they become available.OELTWG agreed on some issues on the ICCM rules of procedures, including establishing a bureau consisting of one chair and four vice-chairs representing five regions, and also establishing an extended bureau including IGO/NGO representatives. Unresolved issues include decision making method (consensus or voting), subsidiary bodies, NGO participation, etc. These issues will further be discussed at ICCM2.At the informal meeting, delegates exchanged their views about the issues described in the agenda, including the issues to be considered at ICCM2 (emeging issues, reporting modalities, resources, SAICM review and update, link with IFCS), and format for ICCM2. The report of the informal meeting will be submitted to the ICCM2.

(2) Listing of emerging isssues
A paper describing the way forward on emerging policy issues will be attached to the report from the informal meeting, but there are some issues still to be clarified on this paper. Also this paper specifies some steps for developing the document for ICCM2 for discussing the emerging issues. An advanced copy of this paper is attached as Document 2. The Secretariat proposes to have a teleconference of the "Friends of the Secretariat" on 27 November. For this teleconference, the Secretariat has compiled Document 3 following the screening elements described in Document 2, and invites inputs from us. Therefore, if you have any comments on Document 3, please let me know as early as possible, preferably by Thursday 20 November. The Secretariat also invites submission of additional information for the teleconference discussion. So if you have anything please let me know by Thursday 20 November.

(3) Bangkok Workshop
I have been requested by the UNEP Secretariat to nominate 19 countries to attend the Informal Workshop on Stakeholders Information Needs on Chemicals in Prducts/Articles, to be held in Bangkok on 2-4 Dec. 2008. Based on the pre-registration that I received, and considering sub-regional balance, I nominated to the Secretariat the following 19 countries: Bahrain, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kiribati, Kyrgizstan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Syria, Uzbekistan, Yemen. The travel arrangements are being made by the UNEP Chemicals. I have also been informed that Brunei, Japan, Nepal and Qatar will participate on an self-funding basis.

(4) ICCM2 Bureau
It has been agreed to have a five-member bureau at ICCM. This region will be invited to nominate one member. Considering that the ICCM1 comprised the Vice-President of Iran, Ministers from Uruguay, Romania and Tanzania, and a US Assistant Secretary of State, I think we should think about sufficient seniority of the bureau member. Also, considering that WEOG and LAC have held the PrepCom and ICCM Presidencies, plus the OELTWG chair, and that Africa and CEE co-chaired the informal discussions in Rome, the Asia Pacific region may well be invited to nominate the chair of ICCM2. It may be too early to think about this, but I would welcome any thoughts from you about a good candidate for our bureau memeber, who may be elected to the chair, including a possible self-nomination of a senior official who has a strong chairing skill.

Thank you for your attention.
Esak

Eisaku Toda
Asia-Pacific Regional Focal Point for SAICM
E-mail:saicm@iges.or.jp

Attachments:
Document 2 (PDF, 20KB)
Document 3 (PDF, 57KB)