Thank you for the question.
The international negotiating process is an ongoing one. As you may recall at Lima, under the Lima plan for action, we laid out the negotiating process that will lead to Paris, which includes a series of negotiating sessions, the first of which post-Lima was held in Geneva in February. At that meeting the draft negotiating text to support the work toward Paris was agreed. Work will continue on that text at three sessions this year: in June, August, and then in October, prior to the negotiations themselves in Paris.
That's important because as you know this is a negotiation process that involves 195 parties. It is an inclusive and transparent process, and achieving consensus is often a challenge. We are making good progress in the substantive negotiations.
A key part of the process was the call issued at Lima for all 195 parties to come forward with their intended nationally determined contributions. To date I think about 39 parties have done so. Many developed countries and one major developing country, Mexico, have come forward. We continue to look to other parties to come forward prior to Paris, well in advance, with their intended nationally determined contributions.
Canada's own INDC was announced on May 15, as the minister mentioned. We provided clarifying information, consistent with that being provided by other countries. It is intended also to help generate momentum in this negotiating process to develop an environmentally effective post-2020 climate change agreement.