Informal, focused consultations

At its second meeting, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) decided that the INB Bureau would conduct informal, focused consultations (IFCs) with experts, open to all WHO Member States and relevant stakeholders, on selected key issues.

The INB Bureau plans held four IFCs, in September and October 2022. The consultations provided a forum for interactive discussion between Member States, relevant stakeholders and subject matter experts to advance understanding of the work of the INB.

The outcomes from the IFCs, along with the outcomes from the public hearings, written input from Member States and relevant stakeholders on the working draft, input from the second meeting of the INB, and input from regional consultations, was utilized by the INB Bureau in its development of a Conceptual zero draft, which was then discussed at the third meeting of the INB in December 2022.

In the interest of transparency, and mindful of the widespread interest in the work of the INB, the INB Bureau decided to broadcast live each IFC session.
 

IFC sessions: topics, dates and times

Select a session from the listing to watch the recording.

The INB Bureau held four IFCs:

Structure, participation and reporting

All IFCs were fully virtual, with interpretation in all WHO official languages, and were chaired by an INB Bureau Co-chair and with two parts:

1) an interactive, moderated roundtable between independent experts during which the moderator asked questions and stimulated input from and dialogue between the experts; and

2) a discussion and reflection session, for Member States and relevant stakeholders, where questions and reflections could be sent through email or the meeting “chat” function.

The INB Bureau selected the experts to participate in each IFC session. Efforts were made to promote diversity, including, in particular, diversity of scientific viewpoints and perspectives, as well as breadth in subject-matter expertise. As appropriate, WHO Secretariat experts joined the IFC roundtables as participants.

Mindful of the informal nature of the IFCs and the goal of stimulating full and frank discussion, the following was applied to all IFC sessions:

• discussions at IFC sessions, including among participating experts, would in no way prejudice the positions of Member States or any other session participants;
• no comment or question presented by session participants, including Member States, during the IFCs, would imply a view or position of Member States or other session participants; and
• expert presentations were provided solely for the consideration of Member States and would not themselves be sources of input to the Conceptual zero draft.

A summary report from the IFCs was made available in advance of the third meeting of the INB.