The Conference of the Parties

1. Expresses its gratitude to the Executive Director of UNEP for assuming responsibility for administering the Trust Fund for Administering and Meeting the Objectives of the Framework Convention for the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians and related Protocols;
2. Decides to extend the Trust Fund for three years until the 7th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Carpathian Convention in 2023 and requests UNEP to continue to administer the Trust Fund until that date in accordance with the Terms of Reference adopted by the third Meeting of the Conference of the Parties;
3. Decides that the Programme of Work – Budget for 2021, 2022 and 2023 of the Carpathian Convention as approved in Decision COP6/20 shall be used as the budget of the Trust Fund for these years;
4. Request the Executive Director of UNEP to inform the Parties of the measures taken in relation to its request to delegate the necessary administrative authorities to the Head of the Secretariat in Vienna in line with the Rules and Regulations of the United Nations (paragraph 15 of decision COP3/14);
5. Furthermore, taking into account paragraph 13 of the approved Terms of Reference of the Trust Fund contained in Annex 4 of Decision COP3/14, requests to maximize the use of the 13% Programme Support Costs for the benefit of the Convention and the functioning of the Secretariat, applying the equal standards for all MEA Secretariats, and requests UN Environment Program to provide further information to the Carpathian Convention Implementation Committee on the planned implementation of its new Standard Management procedure for the Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention;
6. Requests the Secretariat to consult with the United Nations and the European Union competent bodies and programmes, and prepare a report on the participation of the Secretariat in projects funded by EU Programmes, in particular EU ERDF funds, analysing current obstacles, in order to implement a solution enabling the Secretariat to participate again in relevant EU Programmes, in particular Interreg.