I. Opening of the meeting 1. The ninth meeting of the Implementation and Compliance Committee (‘the Committee’) was held at the International Environment House/Maison Internationale de l’Environnement, Geneva, on 89 November 2012. Ms. Jimena Nieto, Chair of the Committee, opened the meeting at 10.00 a.m. She welcomed Committee members and said that the Committee had a very full agenda ahead of it which would require the Committee to work late. In light of the workload of the Committee, she reminded members that she had, during the eight meeting of the Open-ended Working Group, invited parties to consider providing for a three-day rather than a two-day meeting during the next biennium. She reminded Committee members of the amount of work that had been undertaken through consultations since the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties. She thanked those members that had taken part in that work and expressed regret that only a few Committee members had joined these intersessional efforts.