Final Document of Rio+20 under Discussion

Rio de Janeiro, June 17. – Representantives of the 193 member countries of the UN continued today the discussion of the final document of the RIo+20 Conference, far from reaching consensus and with little time left.

In the wake of failure of the third and last meeting of the Preparatory Committee, which only managed to approve 38 percent of the so-called "Zero Draft ", Brazil started to chair the negotiations yesterday in a second phase called Dialogue for Sustainable Development, expected to end successfully on June 19.

In a strategy to curb the differences, Brazil divided into 10 the priority issues in order to reach the long awaited consensus on the final document of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, before the high level session of heads of State and Government, scheduled for June 20-22.

During the first session of this second phase on Saturday, June 16, participants discussed unemployment, decent job and migrations, and sustainable development as the answer to economic, financial crisis.

The agenda for today includes sustainable development to fight poverty, sustainable development economy with sustainable patterns of production and consumption, and the forests.

For June 18-19 the agenda includes the issues of sustainable energy for all, food and nutritional security, water, sustainable cities and innovation, and oceans, according to the official schedule.

There is disagreement on these issues, mainly on the concept of green economy, the institutional framework and the sustainable development goals that are expected to replace the Millennium Goals adopted in 2000, which will expire in 2015.

Representatives from Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador spoke about the importance to agree on a final text for the Conference, based on what was put forward in the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.(Prensa Latina)