Day 1 | Monday 26 November

1. Official opening  

The meeting was officially opened by the Seventeenth Meeting of the States Parties (17MSP) President, H.E. Suraya Dalil, Ambassador of Aghanistan to the United Nations in Geneva.  

2. Ceremonial opening  

A high level opening ceremony featured addresses delivered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan and by the Convention Special Envoy as well as messages delivered on behalf of organisations that historically played a role in the Convention:

• Salahuddin Rabbani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan 
• Yves Daccord, Director-General, International Committee of the Red Cross  
• HRH Prince Mired Raad Zeid Al-Hussein of Jordan, Convention Special Envoy
• Hector Guerra, Director, International Campaign to Ban Landmines 
• Jesus Martinez, Founder of the Network of Landmine Survivors of El Salvador
• Barbara Haering, President of the Council of Foundation, GICHD

 

3. Adoption of the agenda 

The States Parties adopted the agenda for the 17MSP.

• 17MSP provisional agenda

4. Election of the Vice-Presidents of the meeting and other officers

In keeping with past practice, those eight outgoing members of the Committees were elected as Vice-Presidents of the 17MSP, namely: Algeria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Ecuador, Iraq, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.  

5. Confirmation of the Secretary-General of the meeting

H.E. Sabrina Dallafior, Ambassador of Switzerland to the Conference on Disarmament, was confirmed as the Secretary-General of the 17MSP.

6. Organisation of work

The States Parties adopted the programme of work for the 17MSP.

• 17MSP provisional programme of work

7. General exchange of views

The following States Parties took the floor to deliver general statements: Thailand, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Chile, Spain, Turkey, Mozambique, South Africa, Italy, Poland, South Sudan, Australia, Brazil, State of Palestine, United Kingdom, Japan, Algeria, Netherlands, Ireland, Estonia, Costa Rica, Germany, Canada, Montenegro, Ecuador, Angola, El Salvador and Mexico.

The following States not party took the floor to deliver general statements: China, Pakistan, India and Morocco.

The following organisations delivered general statements: United Nations IACG-MA, MAG and ITF. 

8. Informal presentation of requests submitted under Article 5

The following four States Parties which had submitted requests for extensions of their Article 5 mine clearance deadlines presented their requests: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus and Serbia.  

The Chair of the Committee on Article 5 Implementation introduced the analyses that had been prepared with respect to the requests submitted by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus and Serbia.

The following delegations shared views with respect to the request submitted by Bosnia and Herzegovina: Jordan and ICBL.

The following delegations shared views with respect to the request submitted by Croatia: ICBL and Colombia.

The following delegation shared views with respect to the request submitted by Cyprus: Turkey.

The following delegation shared views with respect to the request submitted by Serbia: ICBL.