Bargaining teams representing the Board of Governors and ULFA met on Friday March 1 and Monday March 4. These were additional dates provided on short notice by ULFA at the request of the Board of Governors’ representatives in order to explore expediting our work on the remaining unsettled articles.
On Friday, as agreed at our February 21 meeting, ULFA presented Articles 4, 5, 6, 22, and 26. The Board of Governors for its part presented a proposal for an Memorandum of Understanding to postpone further consideration of some proposals until the next round of negotiations. On Monday, the Board of Governors responded to ULFA’s presentations on Articles 4, 5, and 6.
| ULFA | Board of Governors |
| Article 4 Applications and Exclusions Article 5 Recognition Article 6 Communication and Information Article 22 Grievance and Interpretation Article 26 Financial Emergency |
Memorandum of Understanding (draft) Articles 4, 5, 6 (responses) |
It is difficult to characterise the current state of negotiations. Since these were the first meetings under this new approach, it is too early to tell whether it will lead to the kind of expedited settlement the two sides envisioned in their February 21 meeting that would focus on the key “mandate” issues for each side. While there was some welcome movement on both sides, there were also some old sticking points and we have not reached an agreement in principle on any of these Articles.