Negotiators at UN talks in Bali work to resolve differences over financing, trade

Government representatives negotiating a draft action plan for adoption at the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development were working to resolve differences over financing and trade issues, United Nations officials said today as preparations for the forum entered its second and final week in Bali, Indonesia.

A senior UN official with the Summit secretariat said that some of the issues that continued to be negotiated - such as financing, trade and the launching of new programmes - were interlinked, so a new version of the draft document was put together over the weekend to incorporate all the cross-cutting issues into one package.

The sticking points facing delegates were similar to the ones faced at the end of last week, including various aspects of the means of implementation of Agenda 21, such as trade and finance, Lowell Flanders told a press briefing in Bali.

Meanwhile, "fairly good progress" had been made on the issues of oceans and energy, he added, and most countries had it in mind to complete negotiations on the text in Bali rather than hold them over until the Summit, which will convene from 26 August to 4 September in Johannesburg, South Africa.

As for the upcoming ministerial segment of the preparatory session, which will begin Wednesday, Mr. Flanders said that the ministers would be focusing their attention on discussing another major Summit output - the political declaration. The ministers, he added, might also take up some of the political questions underpinning the implementation programme.