The Second Preparatory Meeting was opened by Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch of Austria, President-designate of the First Review Conference. In opening the meeting, he reiterated his conviction for a transparent and inclusive preparatory process. In this regard, he thanked the Friends of the President, current and past Standing Committee Co-Chairs and other actors that had assisted him in preparing documents for consideration at the Second Preparatory Meeting. With respect to these documents, the President-designate recalled that the First Preparatory Meeting took note of his desire that after the Second Preparatory Meeting the States Parties would have given him a clear sense of what should be contained in the draft Review Conference documentation in order that he could provide as soon as possible drafts for review by the States Parties.
Ms. Jody Williams, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate set the scene for discussions at the Preparatory Meeting by delivering a powerful address.
The Meeting made recommendations with respect to a revised provisional agenda, revised provisional programme of work, revised cost estimates and revised rules of procedure.
- First Review Conference: Provisional Agenda (pdf - 11KB)
- First Review Conference: Provisional Agenda (pdf - 13KB)
Estimated costs for convening the First Review Conference
Note from the Secretariat (pdf - 11KB)
Cost Estimates (pdf - 18KB)
The Meeting recommended that, in keeping with the practice that has served the States Parties well at their annual meetings, the Co-Chairs of the four Standing Committees should serve as vice-presidents for the Review Conference, namely: Australia, Cambodia, Croatia, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Mexico and the Netherlands. In addition, given that the Review Conference takes place in Africa and that the current complement of Co-Chairs does not include an African State Party, it was recommended that one additional vice-president be nominated at the Review Conference.
The Meeting discussed preparations pertaining to a review of the operation and status of the Convention, particularly regarding the following document:
The following delegations expressed their views with respect to this matter:
- Japan
- Italy
- France
- Belarus
- Colombia
- Norway
- GICHD
- Mali
- Switzerland
- Guyana
- Chile
- UNMAS
- Algeria
- ICBL
- Tajikistan
- Slovenia
- France
- Argentina
- Nicaragua
- ICRC
- Thailand
- Bangladesh
- Guinea Bissau
- Japan
- Kenya
- South Africa
- European Commission
- Croatia
The Meeting discussed preparations on a draft 2005-2009 action plan, particularly regarding the following document:
Discussions on this document were facilitated on a section-by-section basis, with the following delegations providing their input:
Introduction and Section I (universalization)
- ICRC
- Ecuador
- GICHD
- ICBL
- Netherlands
- El Salvador
- UNMAS
- Mexico
- Chad
- Belgium
- UK
Section II (stockpile destruction)
- Guatemala
- Kenya
- UNMAS
- ICBL
Section III (clearing mined areas)
- New Zealand
- UNMAS
- ICBL
- Belgium
- Mexico
Section IV (assisting victims)
- Holy See
- Nicaragua
- ICBL
- Canada
- Guyana
- Australia
- Senegal
- Honduras
- ICRC
Section V, part 1 (Cooperation and assistance)
- Canada
- ICBL
- UNDP
- Comoros
- Belgium
Section V, part 2 (Transparency and exchange of information)
- Belgium
- ICBL
Section V, part 3 (Preventing and suppressing prohibited activities and facilitating compliance)
No interventions
- Norway, in its capacity as Friend-of-the-President, provided an update on matters pertaining to the adoption, if necessary, of conclusions related to the implementation of the Convention.
- Norway (pdf - 9KB)
- The Meeting discussed future Meetings of the States Parties and related matters, particularly regarding the following document:
The following delegations expressed their views on this matter:
- Croatia
- France
- Sweden
- Chile
- Switzerland
- Albania
- Norway
- Japan
- Thailand
- Argentina
- Mexico
- Romania
- South Africa
- Greece
- Australia
- Belarus
- Mozambique
- Netherlands
- Nicaragua
- Belgium
- Ecuador
- Italy
- Turkey
- The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
- Guatemala
- Peru
- Canada
- UK
- ICRC
- Kenya
- Slovenia
- Colombia
- Sudan
- Honduras
- European Commission
- Denmark
- Germany
- GICHD
- Hungary
The President-designate provided an update on matters pertaining to a high-level declaration, affirming that such a declaration should be powerful, concise and memorable.
The President-designate shared his ideas regarding the operationalization of the Review Conference programme.
- Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch, President-designate (pdf - 22KB)
The Meeting took note of the President-designate's request that interested delegations provide to him any additional comments in writing on any of the substantive matters discussed at the Preparatory Meeting by 15 July 2004.
The Meeting took note of the President-designate's intention to convene a one-day informal meeting in Geneva on 24 September 2004 and the President-designate's desire that at that meeting the States Parties would be able to indicate their informal agreement to as much of the draft Review Conference documentation as possible. The Meeting also took note of the commitment made by the President-designate to ensure the distribution of draft documents well in advance of the 24 September 2004 informal meeting.
The Meeting received updates from the host country Kenya on logistical and administrative matters and from the Secretariat on organizational matters in relationship to the First Review Conference.
- Presentation by Kenya (pdf - 230KB)