Stage 2 begins with the initial meeting of the three parties.
- The Commission will prepare the agenda and a Commissioner will chair the meeting.
- The purpose of the initial meeting is:
- to bring the parties together for the first time;
- to review the Statement of Intent and supporting documents and discuss whether there is any information that should remain confidential because disclosure could reasonably be expected to harm the negotiations;
- for the Commission to inform the parties of the criteria to be used to determine each party’s readiness and
- to describe the readiness process; to discuss each party’s current state of readiness, how each can achieve readiness and how long each party estimates it will take;
- to obtain a formal oral commitment from each party to negotiate a treaty; to begin a discussion about the issues that each party would like to negotiate; and
- for the parties to discuss their expectations regarding interim measures.
- After the initial meeting, the Statement of Intent and its supporting documents will be made available to the public on request, with the exception of any information which the parties and the Commission determine should remain confidential.