Notification 2013-055

Dear Madam/Sir, In its Decision XI/1 (Section C, paragraph 1), the Conference of the Parties (COP) established an informal advisory committee (IAC) to assist the Executive Secretary with the implementation of the ABS Clearing-House pilot phase and to provide technical guidance with respect to the resolution of technical issues arising from the ongoing development of the pilot phase of the ABS Clearing-House until the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol. Pursuant to the above decision, and thanks to the generous financial support of the European Commission, by Notification 2013-029 of 3 May 2013, Parties were invited to nominate one expert for the Informal Advisory Committee and a reminder was sent out on 31 May 2013. In response, the Secretariat received a total of 43 nominations from Parties and 1 nomination from a non-Party. Based on the nominations received, participants were selected taking into account the nominees' expertise, equitable geographical distribution and gender balance in accordance with decision XI/1, Section C, paragraph 1. I am therefore pleased to convey herewith, for your information, the list of the selected experts. A letter of invitation to the first meeting of the Informal Advisory Committee, to be held in Montreal, Canada from 2 to 4 October 2013, will be sent to the selected experts together with relevant information concerning the meeting. Documents for the meeting will be posted in due course on the Secretariat’s web site at: http://www.cbd.int/doc/?meeting=ABS-IAC-CH-01. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration. INFORMAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE PILOT PHASE OF THE ACCESS AND BENEFIT-SHARING CLEARING-HOUSE 2-4 OCTOBER 2013, MONTREAL, CANADA LIST OF SELECTED EXPERTS ERS AFRICA 1. Madagascar Ms. Raharimalala Voahangy 2. Morocco Mr. Mostafa Madbouhi 3. South Africa Ms.Tshililo Lactitia Tshitwamulomoni ASIA 4. India Ms. Sujata Arora 5. Iran Dr. Javad Mozafari Hashjin 6. China Ms. Ying Liu CEE 7. Azerbaijan Mr. Rashad Z. Allahverdiev 8. Belarus Dr. Elena Makeyeva 9. Croatia Ms. Dubravka Stepic GRULAC 10. Brazil Ms. Eliana Maria Gouveia Fontes 11. Guatemala Mr. Helmer Dagoberto Ayala Vargas 12. Mexico Ms. Elleli Huerta Ocampo WEOG 13. European Commission Mr. Hugo Schally, 14. Switzerland Dr. Marco D‘Alessandro 15. UK Mr. Christopher Lyal

Executive Secretary Executive Secretary

To: CBD Focal Points, ICNP Focal Points