Mandate

In accordance with decision 1/CP.21, paragraph 20, the Conference of the Parties (COP) decided to convene a facilitative dialogue among Parties in 2018 to take stock of the collective efforts of Parties in relation to progress towards the long-term goal referred to in Article 4, paragraph 1, of the Agreement and to inform the preparation of nationally determined contributions pursuant to Article 4, paragraph 8, of the Agreement.

In Marrakech, the President of COP 22 and the Incoming-President of COP 23 were mandated by the COP to undertake inclusive and transparent consultations with Parties on the organization of the Facilitative Dialogue in 2018.

Extensive consultations on the Facilitative Dialogue (FD) 2018 were held during the May sessions in 2017.

COP 23 will launch the FD 2018, which will be held throughout 2018.

In Marrakech, the President of COP 22 and the Incoming-President of COP 23 were mandated by the COP to undertake inclusive and transparent consultations with Parties on the organization of the Facilitative Dialogue in 2018.
 
Ambassador Aziz Mekouar, Chief Negotiator COP22 and Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan, Chief Negotiator COP23 have been requested to lead this work on the Presidents’ behalf.  The objective of the consultations will be to understand the views of all Parties with a view to jointly reporting back to COP 23 on how the dialogue will be organized. 

• May sessions (Bonn): Parties were invited to provide input on the objective, the level of participation, the format of the discussions, timing, inputs and the outcome of the dialogue.  Over 13 bilateral consultations, one open ended consultations and one meeting with observers were organized during the sessions.  Ambassadors Mekouar and Khan invited all Parties to submit further input on the organization of the dialogue.
• Heads of delegation meeting (Rabat): Based on the input received at the May sessions, Ambassadors Mekouar and Khan shared with Parties some initial ideas for the organization of the dialogue.  They invited Parties to provide their views and reactions to these ideas. To ensure transparency and keep also those Parties that were not present in Rabat and observers informed, below comprises the initial feedback by Fiji and Morocco on the approach to the Facilitative Dialogue 2018 based on their consultations with Parties:  
  

Initial feedback by Fiji and Morocco on the approach to the Facilitative Dialogue 2018 (240 kB)

• The invitation to all Parties to submit further input on the organization of the dialogue is still standing;
• A draft skeleton of the dialogue will be made available before the COP;
• A draft design of the dialogue will be made available just before or during the COP.