SBSTA Agenda Item 1 - Opening of the session

Draft Umbrella Group statement

Mr Chair

Australia, on behalf of the Umbrella Group of countries – Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Norway, Russian Federation, Ukraine, and the United States– looks forward to working together with you to progress the SBSTA’s work at this and future sessions.

There are a number of items to progress here, particularly deforestation and technology transfer.  The Umbrella Group considers these to be serious matters and notes that they have been addressed positively over the last six months.  We hope we can make further progress here in Bonn.

In addition, Mr Chair, the Umbrella Group promises to you that we will be disciplined in our approach to the work of the session through keeping our interventions brief and adhering to the 6pm finishing time.