1.              Venue

The 66^th Meeting of the Executive Committee will be held in Montreal, Canada, from
16 to 20 April 2012, in Conference Room 3, ground floor at the premises of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) located at 999 University Street in Montreal, Quebec.

2.              Meeting schedule

The meeting will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the ICAO premises or as announced at plenary.

3.              Meeting documents

(a)              All pre-session meeting documents will be posted on the website of the Multilateral Fund Secretariat four weeks before the start of the meeting as they become available. Translated documents will be posted approximately seven days following the English posting. Delegates are reminded that the physical dispatch of meeting documents in hard copies is discontinued since the Fifty-fifth Meeting of the Executive Committee in support of efforts towards international paperless meetings. All meeting documents are now accessible on line through the Secretariat’s website. Documents with restricted distribution such as the production sector documents will be posted on the restricted area of the website. Delegates should continue obtaining, through their heads of delegations, their username and password to access the restricted area of the website (the log in link can be found at the top right-hand side of the home page). For any queries on password to access the restricted area, please contact Mr. Mulu Alem Syoum by e-mail at alem@unmfs.org.

(b)              Executive Committee participants are kindly reminded to bring their own laptops to enable access and reference to documents on line. The Secretariat, in cooperation with ICAO, will provide a stable and fast wireless internet connection to access all meeting documents from the Executive Committee Meeting conference room and from any point in the ICAO premises.

(c)              It is anticipated that Conference Room Papers (CRPs) and the draft meeting report will be accessible through the restricted area of the Secretariat’s website.  All CRPs must be sent by the group facilitator/convenor to Ms. Martha Leyva by e-mail at mleyva@unmfs.org.

4.          Weather

During the month of April temperatures in Montreal vary between 1 and 11 degrees Celsius.

5.          Registration and identification name badges

Participants are requested to collect their badges at the registration desk located in the lower atrium of ICAO on Monday, 16 April 2012 starting at 9 a.m. Access to the meeting of the Executive Committee (and its subsidiary meetings) is by invitation only.

6.          Security

Following the ICAO internal procedures, a security check is made everyday at the entrance of the lower atrium during the meeting. Participants are requested to carry their badges every day to the meeting venue.

7.          Transportation from airport to downtown Montreal 

Transport from the Montreal - Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport to Montreal downtown is available by bus number 747 from the airport to Berri-UQAM metro station. The bus fare is CAD $8 in coins only and provides the traveller with a transit pass for the bus and metro for the next 24 hours. Taxis are also available at the airport. A one-way taxi ride between Montreal - Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport and the downtown area costs about CAD $40. For more information on the schedule of the shuttle-bus, you could access the timetable by clicking http://www.stm.info/english/info/a-747.htm. Participants are encouraged to take advantage of the public transit system (Société de transport de Montréal) services, also available for the downtown Montreal area. The public transportation rate is CAD $3.00/adult or booklets of ten tickets for CAD $24.00.

8.          Visa

Please arrange for your entry visas from the Canadian Embassy or Consulate nearest to you at least (4) weeks before your departure time. The letter of invitation issued by the Secretariat should be included in your submission of request for visas. Canadian authorities do not grant visa upon arrival at the airport.  Information on visa procedures, including a list of relevant Canadian Embassies, high commissions and consulates abroad, is available on the website of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/offices/index.asp).

9.          Service to delegates

Coffee is provided at no cost to the participants half an hour before the start of each meeting.