Geneva, Switzerland from 6 February to 8 February 2023 and 8 February to 10 February 2023
Highlights: In order to strengthen the implementation of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, there is a need to expand the number and diversity of trained, confident and willing chairs for the various meetings under the conventions. The three-day training workshops, combined with an online training component, aimed to enhance the skills and knowledge of government officials to effectively chair and negotiate at various types of meetings across the three conventions. The training addressed practical and procedural issues encountered by chairs and negotiators of international meetings, encompassing preparations for chairing and negotiating, rules of procedure, administrative matters related to the operation of various meetings under the three conventions, as well as chairing techniques and skills.
The training was composed of two sequential components: the completion of the chairs’ online training course , followed by the three-day face-to-face workshops.
Target audience: The training targeted representatives from Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions. Interested participants should have taken a lead role in the negotiations under the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions in the past and have a desire to participate in the roles of chairs in upcoming meetings under the conventions. Participants also included representatives involved in the work of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution and the Strategic Approach for International Chemicals Management (SAICM). Nominations to participate in the training needed to be submitted no later than 15 November 2022.
Organizers: This workshop was being organized by the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions. The Governments of Germany and Switzerland kindly provided the funding for the training course.
Working language: English was the working language of the workshop.