Despite “a laborious start to the week”, France expects progress in negotiations on a global treaty against plastic pollution by the end of the Paris session on Friday night, the French minister for Ecological Transition said. Christophe Bechu. “We had a laborious start to the week” and “many fussy and somewhat delaying maneuvers to discuss procedural points led us to get into serious things late,” said the French minister.
From Monday through Friday, 175 countries will gather in Paris for the second of five negotiating sessions aimed at developing a legally binding treaty by the end of 2024. The stakes are high: annual production has more than doubled in 20 years for reach 460 million tons. It could triple by 2060 if nothing is done.
Continue talks before the third session in Kenya
The Paris session, initially blocked due to procedural issues, returned to the bottom of technical negotiations on Wednesday night. The countries are working behind closed doors in two groups: the first, led by the Republic of Palau and Germany, on the fundamental objectives and commitments of the future treaty; the other, led by Australia and Ghana, on means (financial, technological) and application mechanisms (evaluation, control, etc.).
Christophe Béchu was optimistic about the possibility of having a “clear mandate” on Friday night so that a first draft can then be drawn up after the Paris session and for the next one, scheduled for the end of the year in Kenya. “We are hopeful because all the points have been discussed and reject a draft (draft, editor’s note) would be to say that we did not have time to discuss this or that issue,” the minister told reporters.
France also insists that the talks continue before the third official session in Kenya. “International discussions and negotiations must continue from here to the meeting in Kenya without stopping, so that we maintain this pressure in the negotiations that allows us to meet this 2024 target”, according to Christophe Béchu.
Source: BFM TV
