23. The Chairperson took note of the statements made. He reminded participants that the purpose of the meeting was not to negotiate the compilation and would encourage delegations not to repeat their positions and to try to move forward to generate creative suggestions. As had been noted, positions remained quite divided. There was still a substantial amount of ground to cover and the deadline was looming large. The Special Session had a very clear mandate, which was to negotiate the establishment of a multilateral system of notification and registration of geographical indications for wines and spirits by the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference. The Special Session should fulfil its mandate in its entirety and not go beyond it, as he had previously said and as is reflected in paragraph 11 of TN/IP/W/7.
