The Third Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG3) of the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM) opened at the Antel Arena in Montevideo, Uruguay, on Tuesday, 2 April 2019. Delegates heard high-level addresses from Uruguay, Romania on behalf of European Union, and UN Environment Programme (UNEP), followed by opening statements by regional groupings, government delegates and other stakeholders.
Most of the day was focused on the Strategic Approach and the sound management of chemicals and waste beyond 2020, starting with a brief recorded presentation by consultant Robert Nurick summarizing key points from the independent evaluation of SAICM for the period 2006-2015. Since the full evaluation will not be available until the end of April, the OEWG decided to defer detailed discussion until the third intersessional process (IP) meeting slated for October 2019.
The OEWG then heard a presentation by IP Co-Chair David Morin on the paper on beyond 2020 prepared by the IP Co-Chairs,with an emphasis on areas of agreement involving possible principles, objectives, and targets for a SAICM 2.0 and/or post-2020 complementary framework, but also noting some disagreement about scope.
The OEWG agreed to create a contact group to meet on Tuesday evening and Wednesday to discuss possible recommendations to ICCM5 scheduled for 2020, and a Friends of the President group to discuss possible elements of a post-2020 framework. Noting the departure of IP Co-Chair Letícia Reis de Carvalho (Brazil), the OEWG appointed Judith Torres (Uruguay) as the new IP Co-Chair.
In the late afternoon the Secretariat presented its progress report on SAICM for the 2014-2016 period as well as its analysis of 20 indicators of progress toward the 2020 goal of sound management of chemicals and waste. Then some members of the Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals (IOMC) presented updates on recent activities in support of SAICM and its objectives.
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