Pre-registration for the Minamata COP-4 online segment, including
submission of the required documentation, should be completed by Friday, 1
October 2021.
Registration platform
Focal points from governments and accredited organizations have received an
e-mail containing an exclusive link, through which they can pre-register
their delegation in the online system.
They must assign the role for each delegate, as appropriate and as outlined
in the invitation letter.
Please make sure to send the official letter of nomination to complete the
online registration, addressed to the Executive Secretary, by e-mail as a
scanned attachment to:
MEA-MinamataMeetings@un.org.
Once the Secretariat receives the official letter, the pre-registered
participant(s) will be validated. Designated speakers and viewers will
receive their respective login credentials a few days before the start of
the meeting.
The platform used for online participants' registration and management
(Kronos) was developed by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD). This system is also used by other Multilateral
Environmental Agreements (MEAs) like CITES and the Ozone Secretariat.
For a step-by-step information on the registration process please check the Online Registration User Guide.
Meeting Platform
The plenary sessions of the online segment of COP-4 will take place on the
Interprefy platform. To ensure that the platform functions well during the
plenary sessions, all delegations and accredited organizations will be
required to identify one spokesperson who may take the floor, while other
representatives will be directed to participate in the meeting through the
live stream link.
Parties and governments
An official nomination letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or a note verbale from the Permanent Mission of the party to the United
Nations Office at Geneva will be required for pre-registration. Please send
pre-registration documents to
MEA-MinamataMeetings@un.org.
Nominations can be submitted specifically for participation in the online
segment of COP-4. Alternatively, they can be submitted for participation in
both the online and the in-person segments of the meeting.
Once the Conference of the Parties has agreed on the dates of the in-person
segment, an invitation letter specific to the in-person segment will be
sent. Parties will then be able to nominate representatives to the
in-person segment, or to submit updated nominations for the in-person
segment as needed if nominations were previously sent for both segments.
For more information on credentials and assistance to representative of
developing-country parties and parties with economies in transition refer
to the
invitation letter to national focal points and governments
.
Observers
As per paragraph 6 of Article 23 of the Minamata Convention, any body or
agency, whether national or international, governmental or
non-governmental, that is qualified in matters covered by the Convention
and has informed the secretariat of its wish to be represented at a meeting
of the Conference of the Parties as an observer may be admitted unless at
least one third of the Parties present object.
If your Organization wishes to attend the fourth meeting of the Conference
of the Parties, pre-registration for each participant should be submitted
at your earliest convenience and no later than 1 October 2021.
Organizations who were approved to participate in the first, second and
third meetings of the Conference of the Parties do not need to resubmit
their application for admission. The list of these organizations can be
found in documents
UNEP/MC/COP.1/INF/16,
UNEP/MC/COP.2/INF/19
and
UNEP/MC/COP.3/INF/27
.
Other Organizations should submit to the secretariat by e-mail:
MEA-MinamataMeetings@un.org
, at least two months prior to the opening of the meeting, an application
for admission as an observer at meetings of the Conference of the Parties,
including information demonstrating it is qualified in matters covered by
the Convention. The secretariat will screen the applications to check their
completeness and conformity with the requirements of the Convention.
Successful applications will be submitted to the fourth meeting of the
Conference of the Parties. Further information with regard to the
participation of observers in meetings of the Conference of the Parties may
be found at:
mercuryconvention.org/Meetings/Observers.
and through the
invitation letter to the Minamata COP-4 sent to observers.