The 11th session of the Group of Experts on Gas was suspended on 22 March at 18:30 while discussing agenda item 11: Adoption of Conclusions and Recommendations. Despite member States having agreed to continue discussions without interpretation after 18:00, the session had to be suspended for technical reasons as services such as audio and video support could not be provided due to the UN regular budget liquidity crisis.
The Chair of the Group Experts on Gas consulted the Group’s Bureau about the possible steps towards adopting the report and closing the session, and they propose the following action:
1. The Bureau of the Group of Experts on Gas to convene an informal meeting/consultation involving UNECE member States and other interested parties. The aim of this meeting would be to review the text yet to be agreed upon, address remaining differences, and, if possible, produce a draft report. To this end, the Chair requested the secretariat to circulate the current version of the draft report (see attached) and schedule the informal meeting for Wednesday, 17 April at 12:00, in rooms H-207-208-209 and online, which would allow all parties ample time for preparation. More details will be sent in due time.
2. The Chair instructed the secretariat to identify the earliest possible time for the session to resume for adoption of the report in an official setting (with interpretation in the three working languages). The next available opportunity for this is Friday, 26 April, at 15:00, as part of the annual session of the Expert Group on Resource Management. A limited time will be given to the Group of Experts on Gas to adopt the report on its 11th session.