ENB:04:53

IN THE CORRIDORS

The remaining issue in the African Annex is the exact role the secretariat would play in the consultative processes convened at the regional, sub-regional and national levels. This is also the outstanding issue in the regional implementation annexes for Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. The developing countries prefer not to have a secretariat, which would only play an administrative role. The developed countries are concerned that omission of the qualifier "administrative" leaves open the possibility of a large secretariat that would also deal with technical matters. The late afternoon consultations also seemed to have produced consensus text on Article 18, paragraph 4 (role of regional and sub-regional coordinating bodies).