Bangkok, July 14 (SANA)Syria’s Director of Climate Change and Environmental Awareness at the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment, Anas al-Rahmoun, stressed the importance of carefully assessing financial efficiency and sustainability requirements, while voicing support for any improvement measures that preserve the effectiveness of the Montreal Protocol’s institutional mechanisms.

Speaking at the 48th meeting of the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG 48) at theUNConference Centre in Bangkok on Tuesday, al-Rahmoun warned that fully replacing in-person meetings with virtual ones could weaken the mechanism’s effectiveness, particularly for countries operating under Article 5.

He said the experience of virtual meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic showed their value as an emergency alternative, but also exposed challenges including technical instability, limited direct interaction and consensus-building, and time-zone differences that affect equal and effective participation.

Al-Rahmoun also cautioned that reducing meetings to once every two years, especially during the Kigali Amendment implementation phase, could weaken regular follow-up and delay responses to technical and implementation challenges, potentially hurting performance rather than improving it.

He stressed the need to maintain broad participation and effective working mechanisms, and to address technical and implementation issues in a timely manner to ensure the continued effectiveness of multilateral work under the Montreal Protocol.

He also said Syria supports the remarks made by the Bahraini delegation, particularly on the importance of preserving inclusive participation and effective working methods to strengthen parties’ ability to coordinate, follow up and implement commitments more efficiently and in a balanced way.

The Montreal Protocol, opened for signature on Sept. 16, 1987, is an international treaty aimed at protecting the ozone layer by phasing out ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons used in refrigeration.