March 2014: The Secretariat of the Basel, Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions and the Institute of Advanced Studies of the UN University (UNU-IAS), with financial support from the Government of Switzerland, hosted a pilot training session on chairing meetings of the Basel, Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions. The training was aimed at extending the Conventions’ corps of highly qualified chairpersons.

The training, which convened from 3-5 March 2014, in Glion, Switzerland, was attended by 17 participants from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, the Cook Islands, Ecuador, Egypt, Georgia, Indonesia, Japan, Malawi, Poland, the Russian Federation, Senegal, Sudan and Switzerland. The training included lectures, case studies and simulation exercises, to allow participants to learn firsthand how to effectively chair intergovernmental meetings and to guide such meetings towards consensual outcomes. [BRS Conventions Press Release]