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Thirteenth meeting of the Open-ended Working Group of the Basel Convention (OEWG-13) | Geneva, 21-23 February 2023

The thirteenth meeting of the OEWG focused on items in its work programme deemed to be of high or medium priority, including: consideration of recommendations to improve the Strategic Framework; development draft recommendations to improve functioning of Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure; consideration and further development of technical guidelines, e.g. those on persistent organic pollutants (POPs), plastic waste and waste lead-acid batteries; consideration of the need to update existing guidance, technical guidelines and factsheets in order to reflect adjustments consequential to the adoption of the e-waste amendment; and progress in the work on further legal clarity.

© Jose F. Pinto-Bazurco

date:  17/04/2023

The meeting was attended by 300 delegates representing over 100 Countries and about 50 observers (civil society, NGOs, trade association and industry representatives). It was considered the most important meeting of the intersessional period of the Basel Convention on the management of hazardous waste at international level. The main aim of the meeting was to advance on a number of topics in view of the upcoming COP that will take place this year in May.

The second day was fully dedicated to contact groups, notably on technical matters such as advancing the work on guidelines on the environmentally sound management of waste containing POPs and of plastic waste. A second contact group on strategic matters was established to discuss the Basel Strategic framework and the improvement of the functioning of the Convention’s procedural framework.

In agreement with the Swedish presidency, a new outreach strategy was also agreed, and dedicated meetings took place with some Parties which in previous years were not part of outreach activities. This included both French- and English-speaking African countries, the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Group, Saudi Arabia, and others. The main goal of this activity is to establish long term relationships, finding common interests and helping to advance the EU agenda.

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