(a) whether the Government has sent any official delegation to the Conference of parties
to the Stockholm Convention held in Senegal;
(b) the details of the discussion held and outcome thereof;
(c) the names of the members of the official delegation;
(d) whether some members of the official delegation have taken stands contrary to the
official Government stand; and
(e) if so, the details in this regard alongwith the actions taken by the Government?
MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS (SHRI NAMO NARAIN MEENA)
(a) & (b) The Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India sent an official
delegation to the 3rd Conference of Parties (COP-3) to the Stockholm Convention held at
Dakar, Senegal from 30th April to 4th May, 2007.
The COP-3 discussed issues relating to Rules of Procedure for the Conference of
Parties, Non-compliance procedures, continued need of DDT, listing of new chemicals and
effectiveness evaluation etc. The COP-3 decided that the square brackets around the second
sentence of paragraph 1 of Rule 45 of Rules of Procedures would remain in place and that
the COP shall continue to decide substantive matters by consensus, negotiate further at its
fourth meeting the procedures and institutional mechanisms on non?compliance, that countries
using DDT may continue to do so until locally appropriate, cost-effective alternatives are
available, adopt the approach suggested by the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee
(POPRC) for considering the listing of chemicals in the annexes to the Convention and
constituted the Regional Organization Groups (ROGs) and the Coordination Group for
Effectiveness Evaluation of the Convention.
(c) to (e) The delegation was headed by Shri R.K. Vaish, Joint Secretary in the Ministry
of Environment & Forestsand included Dr. Chhanda Chowdhury, Addl. Director in
the Ministry and Shri Vijay Trivedi, Counsellor in the Permanent Mission of India at Geneva.
The delegation was also accredited full powers to carry out all functions in accordance
with the rules and procedures of the Conference of Parties of the Stockholm Convention.
It has been a practice to get approved the Negotiation brief before delegations
attend meetings of Multi-lateral Environmental Agreements. The delegation to the COP-3 of
the Stockholm Convention adhered to the Negotiation brief.