The ELI’s Secretary General, Vanessa Wilcox, attended the event which opened with Secretary General Bernasconi recording his delight as to the number of participants registered for the Council meeting, the largest recorded in the HCCH’s history. Bernasconi welcomed all 276 participants and opined that this bears witness to the growing interest in the Hague Conference and its increasing visibility.

Bernasconi opened by outlining the organisation's achievements over the last 12 months. Among other things, time was dedicated to the organisation’s possible new (legislative) instruments and post-Convention activities, including work on the HCCH’s 2000 Protection of Adults Convention, a theme that an ELI's Project Team is also undertaking. A number of the ELI’s Institutional Observers were also present at the meeting including the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), both of which are undertaking a tripartite project on a practitioners’ guide to uniform legal instruments in the area of international commercial contacts (with a focus on sales) with the HCCH, as well as the International Union of Judicial Officers (UIHJ).

Speaking on UNIDROIT’s behalf, Anna Veneziano thanked the Hague Conference for its contribution to the ELI-UNIDROIT’s project on civil procedure  that is due to be finalised next year.