Official representatives of the European Union and India participating in the Kimberley Process (KP) Intersessional, currently under way in Dubai, made a co-ordinated proposal under which EU will assume responsibility as KP Vice-Chair in 2017 and as KP Chair in 2018, while India will become KP Vice-Chair in 2018 and assume the position of KP Chair in 2019.

Addressing the participants at the KP meet, Mr. Tung-Lai Margue, Head of the Delegation of the EU to the KP, said that the two delegations were making this announcement as responsible KP partners, and “offering a common solution” so as to “(avoid) situations of conflict and (provide) stability to the KP in the next crucial years to come”.

Mr. Margue’s presentation outlined the following goals that EU and India shared for the KP:

• Forge consensus during the next review cycle to reach agreement on a number of shared priorities that we think will ensure the KP becomes stronger and more effective.
• Enhance cooperation and partnership with the United Nations’ system and with the international financial institutions; explore how the KP can contribute to the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• Work towards an agreement on ensuring the effectiveness of the KP scheme and further strengthening its implementation and enforcement.
• Renew and reinforce the engagement with Industry and Civil Society by actively promoting an open, constructive and substantial dialogue among the three constitutive pillars of the KP.

The EU representative concluded by saying that an agreement on the common solution proposed will provide the KP with clear and predictable Chairmanship for 2018 and 2019 and a continuous programme around shared priorities between consecutive Chairs.

In his speech, Mr. Manoj Dwivedi, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce and Head of the Indian Delegation to the KP Intersessional Meeting said that India and EU had expressed the intent to work jointly in the KPCS for strengthening it. “We also would stress on the continuity of good work together as Vice Chair and the Chair one after the other which will not only be in the interest of continuity but also strengthen the KP as was done during our successive Chairpersonships in 2007 and 2008 earlier,” he added.

Mr. Dwivedi pointed out that the proposal was as per the amended Administrative Decision for Rules and Criteria for Selecting Candidates for Vice-Chair of the Kimberley Process, and added that a formal application to this effect will be moved by India and EU as stipulated in the Administrative Decision after the Chair formally calls for applications for Vice Chair of 2017.

Coordinated chairmanship agreement secures consecutive vice chair and chair succession to ensure continuity and institutional strengthening. Coordinated proposal arranges successive Vice Chair and Chair roles between two partners to provide clear, predictable leadership and continuity, compliant with the amended Administrative Decision for selecting Vice Chair candidates and requiring formal applications after the Chair calls for nominations. The arrangement is justified as a means to avoid conflict and stabilise the Kimberley Process during the upcoming review cycle, and to enable a continuous programme focused on shared priorities.