The general mood

In the hallways and meeting rooms the general mood has been not to expect anything concrete out of Bonn II. But the kind of progress made over the last week and a half has surprised many.

The meeting began with strong protests from developing countries, India being quite vociferous, about the lop-sided nature of the negotiating text which was in favour of developed countries and gave developing countries little options. But good progress has been made and we are now into the second reading of the text in the working groups.

The first reading led to several portions being marked red (advising deletion) by several parties as per their negotiating stands. Many portions have been bracketed (meaning they will be re-negotiated). Brazil has asked for bracketing almost the entire text dealing with REDDs.

This week the second reading will take place in the working groups and generally this is being seen as good progress (when compared to what was initially expected).