Countries seem to be split approximately the same as in support for Ukraine against Russia — acronyms explained:
ROMANIA on behalf of Eastern European states, stated that the Committee of Permanent Representatives (CRP) to UNEP had confirmed the nominations of Estonia and Georgia.
On a point of order, the RUSSIAN FEDERATION underlined that the Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee process [on plastics] [INC] is independent of the Committee of Permanent Representatives, and any decision made at other processes have no effect in this process.
BELGIUM lamented that one member state had departed from the long-standing practice in the process of electing bureau members “in favor of their own political preference,” and supported a vote.
RUSSIAN FEDERATION decried the politicization of the process and urged to go back to consensus-based decision making.
UKRAINE stated that, because of the technical nature of the process, and in the spirit of compromise, they had withdrawn their nomination in favor of Georgia, and voiced their support for Georgia and Estonia to the INC Bureau.
The RUSSIAN FEDERATION stated that there were no meetings of the EEG on Sunday or Monday morning to reaffirm or amend the election made by the CRP in Nairobi.
The DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO opined that the nomination process for the INC bureau members from the African Group had not been transparent.
SENEGAL clarified that the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) had approved the nominations of Senegal and Rwanda, and reaffirmed the transparency of the process within the region.
In a point of order, SAUDI ARABIA requested clarification on how the draft RoP [rules of procedure ?] would be applied during the vote, since these were only approved provisionally.
The Secretariat clarified that at INC-1, the Committee agreed that draft RoP will be applied to their work provisionally until their adoption, noting that they apply to the Committee’s work on a provisional basis.
SAUDI ARABIA called for further clarification, stating that engaging in voting may not be transparent when using RoP provisionally.
They also called for clarification on the application of the number of votes of an economic integration organization (REIO) and their members. The Secretariat informed delegates that the EU, as a REIO, would not participate in the vote.
SAUDI ARABIA, supported by CHINA, BRAZIL, ARGENTINA, INDIA, and IRAN, called for assurances from INC Chair Meza-Cuadra that this practice was exceptional and will not be repeated during future voting procedures, underlining that the operationalization of draft rule 38 (adoption of decisions) should not establish a precedent, noting this rule has been abused in other processes.
INC Chair Meza-Cuadra reiterated his commitment to consensus-based decision making, underlining that this was an exceptional situation.
