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Declaration by the Pacific Island countries attending the 13th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol

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[Source: Annex VI of the report of the Thirteenth Meeting of the Parties]

We, the Governments of Fiji, Kiribati, Niue, Papua New Guinea and Samoa, are conscious of the serious threat that ozone-depleting substances present to the environment and to the global population.

We note the valuable progress that has been achieved in addressing ozone-depletion by Parties to the Montreal Protocol regarding substances that deplete the ozone layers.

Pacific Island Countries are among the smallest consumers of ozone depleting substances in the world. These are used in areas that the critical to our economic development which includes fishing, tourism and food storage.

We declare our intention to continue working towards the fulfillment of the goals of the Convention and the Protocol at the national, regional and global level.

We acknowledge the initial assistance provided by the Multilateral Fund, the Government of Australia and the Government of New Zealand through the United Nations Environment Programme Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (UNEP-DTIE) and South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) for the preparation of national compliance action plans (NCAPs).

In this context, we recognise that regional cooperation has been identified as an effective means to complement national programmes in implementing environmental programmes in Pacific Island Countries. Regarding our intention to continue working for its successful fulfillment at the global as well as regional scale, we undertake to work together in the context of a regional strategy for the Pacific region that all Pacific Island Countries shall:

1. ratify the Montreal Protocol and its amendments where applicable;
2. urgently adopt import and export controls of ozone-depleting substances, particularly for the use of licensing systems and appropriate legislation;
3. take all the necessary measures to comply with the plans to reduce and eliminate the consumption and production of ozone-depleting substances;
4. ensure effective fulfillment of Article 7 regarding the need to report on the consumption of ozone-depleting substances;
5. commit the accelerated phase-out of CFCs, preferably to year 2005.

We request the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund to financially support the Pacific Island Countries, taking into account their specific needs to implement national programmes and regional cooperation mechanism to enable them to comply with the Montreal Protocol.

We urge all to take account of the unique circumstances of the Pacific Island Countries when they consider the levels of replenishment for the Multilateral Fund during the triennium 2003 to 2005.

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