The chair conducted the revised text for the political declaration, (See: Next version of Political Declaration for CPD now available) with the changes to operative paras (OP) 1, 3 and 5, in the second and final day of consultations on 25 March. OP 1 included a change in the verb “provide” to “offr” related to review conferences, which was a concern for the Russian Federation.
This edit and those to OPs 3 and 5, however, were not acceptable to most delegations, who preferred the original text; the Russian Federation was unwilling to compromise; and there was no agreement on other language for OP 1. The chair then reverted to the original text (attached) stating that given the inability to find agreement, he was placing it under “silent procedure” from 18.00 hours on 25 March to 12.00 noon on 26 March. If no Member State breaks the silence (ie notifies the Chair that it cannot accept the text), the Political Declaration will be adopted on 1 April in the Opening Session of the CPD.