Building on Synergies for Increased Cooperation

摘要

The United Nations Economie Commission for Europe held the Fourth Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (UNECE Water Convention1) at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in Bonn, Germany from 20-22 November 2006. The meeting, which marked the tenth anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention, was chaired by Matthias Machnig, Permanent State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, and attended by 136 participants. Following up on a request from MOP-3, the MOP formally addressed a procedural issue, ultimately revising its rules of procedure, based on the work of the Legal Board. The revisions are intended to ensure equal geographic and other representation in the MOP's Bureau, and enhance coordination with the draft rules of procedure for the Protocol and to align them with the rules on working groups and other bodies under the Convention's Protocol on Water and Health.2