Bureau of the Conference of the Parties

In accordance with Rule 21 of the rules of procedure of the Basel Convention, as adopted by decision 1/1, and amended by decision BC-11/24, the Conference of the Parties shall elect at each ordinary meeting, a President, and nine Vice-Presidents, one of whom will serve as Rapporteur. In conducting these elections, the Conference of the Parties shall have due regard to the principle of equitable geographic representation. The offices of President and Rapporteur shall normally be subject to rotation among the five United Nations regional groups.

The members of the Bureau shall commence their terms of office at the closure of the meeting at which they are elected and remain in office until the closure of the following ordinary meeting of the Conference of the Parties, for which they will serve as the Bureau, including for any intervening extraordinary meeting. Exceptionally, one or more of these officers may be re-elected for one further consecutive term.

Current members of the Bureau

The members of the Bureau, to serve until the closure of the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, are as follows:

President:

• Ms. Anita Sowińska replacing Ms. Magda Gosk (Poland – Eastern European group)

Vice-Presidents:

• Mr. Leonard Leswam Tampushi (Kenya - African group)
• Mr. Sheikh Ahmed Tunis (Sierra Leone - African group)
• Mr. Khodayar Rouzbahani replacing Mr. Abbas Torabi (Iran (Islamic Republic of) – Asia and Pacific group)
• Mr. Nawaf Essam Bilasi (Saudi Arabia – Asia and Pacific group)
• Mr. Artak Khachatryan (Armenia - Eastern European group)
• Mr. Anthony Mai (Belize - Latin American and Caribbean group)
• Ms. Angela Patricia Rivera Galvis (Colombia - Latin American and Caribbean group)
• Ms. Katja Maria Larsen (Denmark - Western Europe and others group)
• Mr. Ole Thomas Thommesen (Norway - Western Europe and others group) (Rapporteur) 

The Chair of the Implementation and Compliance Committee and the co-Chairs of the Open-ended Working Group are ex-officio members of the Bureau.

Bureau Members, May 2023 - May 2025 (COP.17)

Former members of the Bureau

Bureau Members, June 2022 - May 2023 (COP.16)
Bureau Members, May 2019 - June 2022 (COP.15)
Bureau Members, May 2017 – May 2019 (COP.14)
Bureau Members, May 2015 – May 2017 (COP.13)
Bureau Members, May 2013 – May 2015 (COP.12)
Bureau Members, December 2006 – May 2013 (COP.8-11)

• Joint meeting of the bureaux of the conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, Geneva, Switzerland, 5 and 6 November 2024
• Meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention, Geneva, Switzerland, 29 June 2024
• Joint meeting of the bureaux of the conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-19 January 2023
• Meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of the parties to the Basel Convention, Geneva, Switzerland, 11-12 October 2022
• Joint meeting of the bureaux of the conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, Geneva, Switzerland, 6 May 2022
• Joint meeting of the bureaux of the conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, Geneva, Switzerland, 1-2 February 2022
• Joint meeting of the bureaux of the conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, Geneva (online), 27-29 January and 26 February 2021
• Meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention - Geneva, Switzerland, 25-26 June 2020
• Joint meeting of the bureaux of the conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions - Geneva, Switzerland, 15-16 November 2018
• Meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention - Geneva, Switzerland, 19 to 20 June 2018
• Joint meeting of the bureaux of the conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions - Geneva, Switzerland, 3-4 November 2016
• Meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention - Geneva, Switzerland, 11 to 12 July 2016
• Joint meeting of the bureaux of the conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions - Geneva, Switzerland, 11 to 12 November 2014
• Meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention - Geneva, Switzerland, 22 to 23 May 2014
• Joint meeting of the bureaux of the conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions - Geneva, Switzerland, 13-14 December 2012
• Basel Convention Bureau teleconference - 28 June 2012
• Joint meeting of the bureaux of the conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions - Geneva, Switzerland, 26 March 2011

In accordance with decision BC-11/25, the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties decided to discontinue the Expanded Bureau as a subsidiary body of the Convention. It also decided that any function previously entrusted to the Expanded Bureau shall be undertaken in the future by the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties.

Complete information about the Expanded Bureau can be found here.