Notification 2010-082

Dear Madam/Sir, I am pleased to confirm that, with the generous financial support of the Government of Japan, the resumed ninth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing (WG ABS 9) will be held at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada, on 12-18 July 2010. The provisional agenda of the meeting is attached for your information and is available on the CBD website at: http://www.cbd.int/meetings/. Other documents for the meeting as well as the information note for participants will be made available as soon as practicable on the website of the Convention at the same address. The meeting will be held over seven consecutive days and will be preceded by two days of regional and interregional consultations, on 10-11 July 2010. In addition, as for previous meetings, Mr. Fernando Casas of Colombia and Mr. Timothy Hodges of Canada, the Co-Chairs of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing, will be holding open-ended informal consultations, as well as bilateral consultations, with interested delegates on 10-11 July 2010. Further information regarding the time and exact venue of these consultations will be communicated in due course. Subject to the availability of funds in the Special Voluntary Trust Fund (BZ), the Secretariat will finance the participation of one representative to the resumed ninth meeting of the Working Group from each of the developing country Parties to the Convention, in particular, the least developed and small-island developing States amongst them, and Parties with economies in transition. In view of the budget constraints, and in order to allow the participation of a larger number of delegates, the Secretariat will be using special airfare tickets which impose restrictions with respect to the changing of passenger’s name, travel dates and itinerary. Parties are invited to communicate to the Secretariat the name(s) and coordinates of their Government’s officially designated representative(s) to the meeting no later than 28 May 2010. Designation of representatives to attend the meeting should be submitted through official letter addressed to the Executive Secretary by fax to +1 514 288 6588, or by email as a scanned attachment to: secretariat@cbd.int. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD and ABS National Focal Points