A special Meeting Participation Fund (MPF) be established for the purposes of supporting scientists and representatives from IOTC Contracting Parties and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties (CPCs) who are developing States to attend and/or contribute to the work of the Commission, the IOTC Scientific Committee and its Working Parties.
The MPF shall be financed from an initial allocation of USD200,000 from IOTC’s accumulated funds, and subsequently by voluntary contributions from Members and such other sources as the Commission may identify. The Commission will identify, at its 15th Session, a procedure for supplying funds to the MPF in the future.
The Fund will be administered by the IOTC Executive Secretary, in accordance with the same financial controls as regular budget appropriations.
The IOTC Executive Secretary shall establish a process for notifying CPCs annually of the level of available funds in the MPF, and provide a timeline and describe the format for the submission of applications for assistance.
The Fund would be utilised, as a first priority, to support the participation of scientists from developing CPCs in scientific meetings of the IOTC, including Working Parties. Those eligible scientists may submit an application for assistance from the Fund. Applicants will be selected by a panel including the Chair of the scientific body concerned, the IOTC Secretariat and the Chair of the IOTC Scientific Committee, in accordance with the process established in 4 above. Priority will be given to those applicants that will contribute a scientific document on a subject of interest to the meeting they wish to attend. The decision by the Panel shall also take into account the size of the fund and the need for cost-effectiveness. Consideration of applications shall also include an assessment of whether any alternative sources of assistance are available.
The remainder of the Fund will be used to finance the participation of one representative per developing CPC to a non-scientific meeting of the Commission, including regular Sessions, if the CPC intends to present reports relevant to the meeting in question, and provided that the CPC is not eligible for support under the fund established under part VII of the UNFSA.
The Fund will be allocated in such a way that no more than 25% of the expenditures of the Fund in one year is used to fund attendance to non-scientific meetings.
Applicants should note that alternative avenues of funding are available to developing State Members who wish to send scientists to IOTC scientific meetings. For example, a fund has been established under Part VII of UNFSA to assist developing States that are signatories of the UNFSA to implement its provisions, including participation in the work of Regional Fisheries Management Organisations. For those eligible Members of IOTC, this could provide for an alternative source of funding to participate in meetings of the Commission and subsidiary bodies or to fund attendance at IOTC meetings as training and capacity building required to fulfil the obligations under the UNFSA.