A two-day, informal brainstorming session was held at the CBD Secretariat in Montreal on 14-15 September, 2009, discussing ways to continue with and advance businesses engagement with the convention's objectives.

The session was attended by representatives from Germany, Canada, Brazil, Netherlands and Japan, and on the second day joined by representatives of the business community, and international and non-government organisations, including the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention, reaffirmed the Convention’s commitment to strengthen business partnerships with all stakeholders.

 The brainstorming session was held as an informal preparatory meeting for the “Third Business and 2010 Biodiversity Challenge Conference” convened by the Convention Secretariat in collaboration with UNEP, which will be held in Jakarta from 30 November to 3 December 2009.
 Participants agreed on a timetable defining the next steps, which included elements of a strategy to advance the business and biodiversity agenda post-2010 and reaffirmed their commitment to take a meaningful and effective business and biodiversity initiative to the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties.

<link http: www.cbd.int doc press pr-2009-09-16-business-en.pdf external-link-new-window external link in new>Full text of the CBD communiqué here