The 7th meeting of the International Negotiation Committee (INC) of Minamata Convention on Mercury organized by UNEP was held between March 10th and 15th at the Dead Sea in Jordan.

The meeting reviewed and provisionally passed important documents such as the Application Guide for Mercury Trade Submission Form, Mercury Stock Identification Guide, Guide for Best Available Technology / Best Environment Practice of Atmospheric Mercury Control, MoU between the Convention Assembly and GEF, the Convention Assembly Guide for GEF etc.

The meeting aimed at bringing Minamata Convention on Mercury into global effect as soon as possible and preparing for the first Convention Assembly conference. Led by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the delegation of Chinese government, composed of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Land and Resources, Tsinghua University, Peking University etc., attended the meeting and played a positive and constructive role.

The head of Chinese delegation Zhao Weijun gave an significant speech at the opening ceremony of the meeting and introduced China’s work on the pollution prevention and treatment for heavy metals like mercury with improving environment quality being the core of the endeavor. Zhao also stressed that the meeting should adhere to the principle of ‘common but different responsibility’ and called on the developed countries to provide developing countries with financial and technological aid.

During the meeting, the head of Chinese delegation was invited to have discussion with UNEP Deputy Executive Director Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw, the Head of the International Affairs Division of Switzerland’s Federal Office for the Environment Ambassador Franz Perrez and the Director of the Department of Environment of UN Industrial Development Organization Stephen Sicars. Around 600 representatives from 145 countries, international intergovernmental organizations and international institutes attended the meeting.