On behalf of the WESTPAC Officers, we have the pleasure of inviting Member States in the region to carry on their intergovernmental guidance of the IOC programmes despite the difficult conditions imposed on us by the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic. The WESTPAC Officers, Advisory Group and the Head of WESTPAC Office have been monitoring closely the situation and would like to recommend that the Thirteenth Intergovernmental Session of the IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC-XIII) be conducted virtually from 27 to 29 April 2021, with three-hour daily sessions to ensure participants’ health and facilitate their participation from various time zones. The virtual session will be kindly “hosted” by the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in English as customary.

The agenda for the session will focus on essential issues requiring attention, guidance and collective actions of IOC Member States in the region. After briefly reviewing the progress of the Sub-Commission over the last intersessional period, the session will hear the latest development at global level on the UN Ocean Decade and IOC strategy development, and further deliberate on the Sub-Commission’s engagement in and contribution to the Decade. The Sub-Commission will be expected to formulate its workplan and budget for the 2022–2023 biennium and will elect its Officers.

The session will bring together national competent governmental agencies and ocean research communities, aiming to strengthen the science-policy interface, advance international ocean science development and cooperation, and enhance institutional capacities, in order to address critical challenges for sustainability in the Western Pacific and its adjacent areas.

We would like to kindly request delegations to focus their interventions on providing the vision, guidance, and recommendations for practical actions. Reporting on past activities will be done in writing well in advance of the session.

At the session, WESTPAC Member States will elect the Officers of the Sub-Commission, i.e. one Chairperson and two Vice-Chairpersons, for the next 2-year intersessional period. Elected Officers may be re-elected for one additional term of office. Kindly note that nominations should be sent to iocwestpac@unesco.org with a copy to Wenxi Zhu, Head of the WESTPAC Office (w.zhu@unesco.org), no later than 22 April 2021 at 17:00 p.m. (Bangkok time).

We invite Member States to communicate in writing the names, positions and contact addresses of the members of your delegations to Ms Nachapa Saransuth (n.saransuth@unesco.org, or by fax: +66 2 143 9245), by Friday 2 April 2021.

Important Deadlines:

1. Friday 02 April 2021:  please notify the Secretariat (n.saransuth@unesco.org and iocwestpac@unesco.org) of the composition of the delegation
2. Friday 16 April 2021: online registration
3. Thursday 22 April 2021, 17:00 pm (Bangkok time): submission of nomination forms for one Chairperson and two Vice-Chairpersons at iocwestpac@unesco.org and w.zhu@unesco.org
4. Friday 23 April 2021, 13:00-14:00 pm (Bangkok time): test run