Durban (South Africa), September 10, 2015 - The COMIFAC pavilion at the Durban exhibition center was the venue for an informal consultation meeting of CBFP partners as part of preparations for the  Congo Basin's participation in COP 21 in Paris.

CBFP partners in attendance included: Germany, the African Development Bank, the World Bank, COMIFAC, the United States, France, the European Union, as well as the CBFP Facilitation. The meeting was chaired by His Excellency Mr. Emmanuel Niyonkuru, Minister of Water, the Environment, Spatial Planning and Urban Planning of Burundi, and Acting President of COMIFAC.

After the welcome address to participants, the agenda was presented and discussions ensued, centered around the following points:

• Briefing on Central Africa's state of preparedness for COP 21: preparatory activities, before, during and after. COMIFAC registration : France's attempt  - EU's attempt 

• Briefing on Libreville Climate Summit and adoption of Central Africa 's Common Position- Next step

• A "champion" for the Congo Basin in view of a high-level segment of the Congo Basin - Leader of the partners to carry the torch, serve as a relay ...
• Financing mechanism : equity in allocation of funding - Green Carbon Fund, GEF instituting of a geographical quota within the Green Carbon Fund - CBFP partner countries account for more than 50 % of conributions to the Green Carbon Fund. How to make this count for Central Africa: 1. Could these partners use their influence to push for the institution of such a quota system which is in no way detrimental to the performance-based payment system? It is a means of making resources available equitably among the regions. 2. COMIFAC accreditation within GCF.
• Implementation of the recommendation of the January 2015 Council of Ministers of COMIFAC, urging CBFP  partners to make financing operations in the Congo Basin countries conditional on the payment by said countries of their egalitarian contributions to COMIFAC - Is there a CBFP partner willing to implement this decision - based on the Paris declaration on aid effectiveness?

Informative note :

• Central African Forests Initiative - a coalition of voluntary donors who decided to enter a collaborative partnership and establish the Central African Forests Initiative (CAFI). CAFI was spearheaded by Norway with the EU's confirmed contribution, while France and Germany's contributions are yet to be confirmed. CAFI is still under development and will be launched in New York on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly during a side event on 29 September. The initiative's long term objective is to enhance and preserve forests in the region with a view to mitigating climate change, reducing poverty and contributing to sustainable development.

After the discussions, the participants held consultations to address requests made by COMIFAC and ECCAS within the framework of implementation of the road map for preparations ahead of COP 21 in Paris.