Thursday, August 13, 2020
In addition to the European Union’s contribution of 500,000 euros for the work programme for technical assistance and capacity building on mercury trade and emissions, the Secretariat of the Minamata Convention received another 500,000 euros to support the work on mercury-added products and effectiveness evaluation.
The new contribution has three components. The first component supports the intersessional work on the review of Annexes A and B. The original intention was to support a face-to-face meeting of the Ad Hoc Group of Experts, but since the meeting was not possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the contribution will be spent to support market studies on mercury-added products.
The second component is technical assistance and capacity-building to assist Parties in fulfilling its 2020 obligation to phase out manufacturing, import and export of mercury-added products. Several partners will be trained on developing and implementing domestic policy measures for the phase-out, and will provide hands-on assistance to developing country Parties and Parties with economies in transition. For further information, please see the concept note for this component.
The third component supports the intersessional work on effectiveness evaluation. The current plan is to support a meeting on the effectiveness evaluation indicators and analyze information relevant to proposed indicators. Further details will be discussed in early 2021 taking into account the situation of travel restrictions.