PUBLIC HEARING

Commissioner Alice Chamberlin

For those of you who don't know me, I'm Alice Chamberlin. I'm a Commissioner from the United States. This afternoon we will open the public session of our Biennial Meeting; that's an opportunity for people to comment to the IJC on the progress as they see it that the governments are making in meeting their commitments under the Agreement. That comment will become part of our consideration and inform the 10^th Biennial Report from the Commission to the publics and to the governments. This year we've tried to do things a little differently at this meeting. I hope that the lack of participation here reflects that. We have provided a lot of opportunities yesterday and this morning for comments in workshops, yesterday and in the government's session this morning. That work, comment, and reporting will also be part of the record of this meeting that informs us about the public's views. We also wanted to provide flexibility for people to be able to come and go so that they didn't feel that they had to stay through extensive public hearings and we will be here as long as there are people who want to make a statement. So please, if you could come to the microphone, let us know who you are and where you're from. We are recording this session and look forward to hearing from you. Also, we will be back here tomorrow morning at 8:30 and we'll take any further public comments given to us then. Thanks.