It was agreed that each participating country would receive a contribution from the project of US$10 000 to meet expenditures in the preparation of the national reports. Cost to be covered by this allotment can include expenditures for arranging national consultations and for contracting people to prepare parts of the national reports. Each National Coordinator was requested to provide FAO with a costed workplan by 1 April 1999 for approval before funds can be transferred through the national FAO offices for local use. The Workplan should include a description of how the national consultations will be executed.
The representatives from each region nominated a host country for the regional workshops to be held end-1999/early-2000. The following proposals were agreed upon:
· Asia: Host country Indonesia, last week of November 1999
· Africa: Host country Nigeria, first week of December 1999
· Latin America and Caribbean: Host Country Costa Rica, 2nd week of January 2000
· Middle East: Host country Iran, 3rd week of January 2000.
A final decision on the venue for each of the workshop is subject to approval by the authorities in the respective countries. It was agreed that the regional workshops should have a duration of three days.
The national reports to be produced by each country should be finalized before the regional workshops, by the 1 December 1999 deadline. These reports will be basic background documents for discussions at the regional workshops and the elaboration of the full-scale project.
The project proposal to be submitted to UNEP should be finalized by 1 April 2000. This document will be compiled by FAO following discussions in the regional workshops and in consultation with the countries that are identified as eligible for participation in the full-phase project.
FAO will develop a table of contents for the national reports based on discussion of the draft outline for such a report included in the project document (Annex 2.2).
FAO will develop a questionnaire which can be used by the participating countries in their consultation with the various stakeholder groups.
Countries other than those participating in the National Coordinator Workshop, but which have important shrimp fisheries in any of the four regions, will be invited by FAO to participate in the regional workshops. Participants from such countries will be requested to present reports similar to those presented as national contributions at this Workshop.
