President - Elected by the Parties to preside over the COP, the President is often a senior official or minister from the state or region hosting the meeting. The Climate Change secretariat is institutionally linked to the United Nations. Additional subsidiary bodies may be established as needed. The COP can change the existing Convention text through consensus or, if consensus cannot be reached, by a three-quarters majority vote by all Parties present and voting. The COP or the Committee of the Whole may establish an open-ended meeting wherein Parties can negotiate before forwarding agreed text to the plenary for formal adoption.
Observers can generally attend.
Unlike a resolution, a decision is a formal agreement and leads to binding actions. Pre-session documents are available before the meeting, often in all six UN languages. Informal documents are often distributed outside the meeting room by observers. Observers generally may not attend. On the instructions of the President or Chair, delegates may meet in private to discuss specific matters in order to consolidate different views, reach a compromise, and produce an agreed proposal, often in the form of a written text.