The meetings of the conferences of the parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions in 2015 were held back to back and included joint sessions on joint issues. In order to assist parties with the challenges and opportunities that such back-to-back meetings present, the conferences of the parties in 2013 requested the Executive Secretary to organize regional meetings to assist regional preparatory processes (decisions BC-11/20, RC-6/12 and SC-6/25).
In response to this request, four two-day regional preparatory meetings were organized in conjunction with two-day workshops to support the ratification and early implementation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury. The objective of the preparatory meetings was to contribute to successful meetings of the conferences of the parties in 2015 by giving regions the possibility to consult each other in advance of the meetings, consider meeting documents, discuss substantive matters, identify regional priorities and challenges, and facilitate the preparation of regional positions.
The meetings were held as follows (please click on the meetings below for further information):
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Asia-Pacific Region: 17-20 March 2015, in Jakarta, Indonesia, in cooperation with the Basel and Stockholm Conventions Regional Centre in Indonesia;
- African Region: 24-27 March 2015, Nairobi, Kenya, in cooperation with UNEP and the Stockholm Convention Regional Centre in Kenya;
- Central and Eastern Europe: 7-10 April 2015, Bratislava, Slovakia, in cooperation with the Basel Convention Regional Centre in Slovakia;
- Latin American and Caribbean Group: 14-17 April 2015, Montevideo, Uruguay, in cooperation with the Basel Convention Coordinating Centre and Stockholm Convention Regional Centre in Uruguay.
The programmes of the meetings have been developed in close cooperation with the members of the bureaux of the conferences of the parties to the three conventions.
The meetings were held thanks to the generous financial contributions from the Government of Switzerland and the EU.