Thanks for the endorsements to = represent the Asia=20 Pacific family at the CS Bureau meeting in Paris. I was thanking Al, in = a=20 one-to-one e-mail for writing to the list. It certainly catalysed us = into action=20 and to me, endorses him in no small way=20 as THE leader of our caucus :o)

FYI, the CSB meeting is scheduled for = the 15th to=20 18th July. They did try to initiate a discussion on the potential = agenda, but=20 somehow that discussion has been quite lukewarm. From Asia Pacific, only = YJ and=20 myself responded. Our concerns were mainly around the TOR of the CSB, = the role=20 the CSB seems to be taking around the vetting of events for the Summit, = and of=20 course, the Civil Society Facility Fund and how exactly proposals will = be=20 submitted and vetted since they want to set up a smaller sub-committee = of focal=20 points to screen these. In any case, I'll keep you all = updated.

In the meantime, I'm glad to see at = least responses=20 coming from the region to the Draft Declaration and Action Plan even if = it's not=20 from the Asia Pacific family as a whole. In a sense, we do have time to = still=20 lobby at the Intersessionals, i.e. we come up with a lobby document, = succinct=20 with key issues/points to be considered by governments in response to = the draft=20 declaration and action plan or just as a lobby document that highlights = key gaps=20 and concerns from this region. Since a few of us will be there, I'm = recommending=20 this as a possible course of action. If the drafting group, Sacha, = Gaurab,=20 Serena, Arfa, Mavic, etc. from Tokyo can work on this (or even a couple = as long=20 as we give them the trust to do so), we could still input into the whole = process=20 from this region. I appreciate the fact that we seem to have great = energy and=20 synergy when we're face-to-face as Sacha points out and this is indeed = something=20 I've noticed too. Let's just do what we can.