CMS celebrated its 20th anniversary on 23 June 1999. A ceremony and diplomatic reception took place in the guest house ALa Redoute@ of Bonn-Bad Godesberg on the invitation of the German Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin.

ALa Redoute@ is a beautiful 200 year old building situated right next to the Stadthalle (City Hall) where the Convention was signed 20 years ago. Whereas, in 1979, fifty-four countries signed the Final Act and twenty-two the Convention itself, the number of Contracting Parties has risen in the meantime to 60. The CMS Secretariat has been informed that another six countries are at present in the final phase of ratifying or acceding to the Convention.

About 250 representatives of Embassies of various countries, Ministries, governmental as well as non-governmental organisations, members of the CMS Standing Committee and the Scientific Council, as well as representatives of the CMS Agreements= bodies participated in the ceremony. Many speeches were held in honour of the anniversary and all of them emphasized the importance of the Convention.

The Chairman of the Standing Committee, Prof. Dr. Abdulaziz H. Abuzinada, pointed out the importance of the conservation of migratory species by stressing their role as "a common natural heritage". He noted that "these species are paramount symbols for natural resources shared by States [...] as well as [...] excellent indicators of the state of the environment".

UNEP Executive Director Prof. Dr. Töpfer, one of the keynote speakers, emphasized once again our responsibility to protect and to preserve nature as the basis for the survival and well-being of mankind. He acknowledged the progress made in the past years in implementing the Convention and confirmed his willingness that UNEP will support CMS. Prof. Töpfer compared the relation of UNEP and the six global biodiversity-related Conventions to a family, in which UNEP assumes the responsibility of the maternal role, while the different conventions are the children, each developing their personality and prospects in their own context. This administrative structure, he said, has and will guarantee the efficiency of these organizations also in the future.