One of the key elements of the Cartagena Package on International Environment Governance, adopted at the Seventh Special Session of the UN Environment Programme's Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GC/GMEF) in Colombia in 2002, was resolving the issue of universal membership of the UNEP Governing Council. Discussions to resolve the current impasse between developed and developing countries have occupied the international stage ever since the Secretary-General first re-floated the issue in his 1998 report on environment and human settlements. Negotiations at further GC/GMEF's in Jeju (2004), Nairobi (2005) and Dubai (2006) failed to move beyond the current recognition that no-consensus exists among Member States. The EU has been leading calls for transforming the 58-member UNEP Governing Council into a universal body, but the US , Russia , Japan and some members of the Group of 77 and China are not prepared to go beyond acknowledging that universal membership is “an important but complex issue.” Unable to resolve the issue, the UNEP Governing Council/GMEF has referred the issue for resolution within the General Assembly . At the 59 th Session of the General Assembly in 2004, UN Member States adopted resolution 59/226, in which they noted that the “matter remained an important but complex issue and that a difference of views still existed.” The resolution further requested the Secretary-General to report to the 61 st General Assembly (2006-7) for a decision. According to the Earth Negotiations Bulletin , discussions on universal membership held during th e Ninth Special Session of the GC/GMEF in February 2006 “did not produce an agreed outcome and delegates decided that the report of the meeting should reflect the divergence of views expressed.” W hile the World Summit Outcome does not specifically address the issue of universal membership per se, the General Assembly's Second Committee is expected to deliberate on the issue when it begins its yearly session from September to December 2006.