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Archive - Archive 2004 - July 2013

Multilateral environmental agreements-Stakeholders hone negotiating skills |24 January 2013

Multilateral environmental agreements-Stakeholders hone negotiating skills

Mr Gonzalves leading the workshop

This was during a one-day workshop held at the STC conference hall.
Launching the workshop, principal secretary for Environment Wills Agricole said the number of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and institutions has grown steadily over the years, hence the increase in negotiations taking place under these agreements and within these institutions.

He noted that more emphasis is being placed on countries to effectively carry out programmes and projects within these agreements, thus the need to enhance the capacity of local officials.

“More and more, officials from governments all over the world take part in international negotiations, whether in a bilateral, trilateral or multilateral context. Hence there is a need to increase their negotiating skills capacity,” said Mr Agricole.

He said Seychelles is one of 10 countries chosen for assessment of its MEAs coordination and implementation framework and for improving existing capacity through the development of a national strategy.

The Ministry of Environment and Energy in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and support of the African Union Commission (AUC) is carrying out the capacity building programme for African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

A Seychellois consultant appointed by the AUC, Cliff Gonzalves, is leading the workshop.

The overall objective of the programme is to promote environmental sustainability in ACP countries thereby contributing to sustainable development and poverty reduction. Forty-eight African countries south of the Sahara are covered by the programme.

With the Ministry of Environment and Energy, Mr Gonzalves is reviewing the institutional mechanism and develop a “strategy for improved coordination and implementation of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) in Seychelles”, thus the theme of yesterday’s workshop.
 
It is to be noted that an an inception workshop was held in August last year and yesterday’s session was 
to look at the second phase of the AUC programme on MEAs here.
It constitutes of two key aspects namely:
• to review the MEA coordination framework
• to develop a national strategy on multi-stakeholder cooperation and collaboration.
At the end of the workshop those taking part were expected to have considered constraints and gaps in MEA implementation and coordination in Seychelles and develop strategies on multi-stakeholder cooperation and collaboration on MEAs at national level.

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