International Consultative Board – more than 25 strategic partners take part
During autumn 2005, about 25 distinguished persons, among them decision makers from national and international institutions as well as opinion leaders from media, civil society and scientific organizations, have agreed to become members of the International Consultative Board to the EcoFair Trade Dialogue. They will follow the dialogue closely and be asked to give feedback on the ideas and proposals that emanate in the course of the project. The intention is that they serve as constructive commentators, but also as multipliers of the project’s results. On the occasion of the 6th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Hong Kong, a first meeting with members of the Board took place. Short presentations of the members to the Consultative Board will soon be published on our webpage.
Third Expert Panel meeting – discussing draft policy papers
After two successful meetings of the Expert Panel (i.e. the group of eleven people from around the world who are at the core of the international dialogue process), in Mexico City (April 2005) and Berlin (June 2005), a third meeting took place in Aachen, Germany, in September 2005. At this meeting, nine draft versions of policy papers written by members of the Expert Panel, containing proposals for guidelines and instruments for the reform of the agricultural trade system, have been reviewed and thoroughly discussed in the group. The working titles and key questions of those nine policy papers are:
- Asymmetries in Trade Relations: What are existing asymmetries in agricultural trade relations, do they predetermine trade imbalances, and do they impact on trade flows to the disadvantage of environmentally and socially sound products?
- Small Farmers: What do small farmers offer to society, and why are they not an outdated model of production, but an important asset to society?
- Industrial Agriculture: What kind of trade rules are needed in order to make industrial agricultural production more sustainable?
- Market Power: How far do current power relations in production chains impede the production as well as the trade of environmentally and socially sound products, and what can be done to balance them?
- Governance of Imports: What kind of policy measures are suitable to protect livelihood economies from negative impacts by the global market and by trade imports?
- Qualified Market Access / Qualified External Protection: Do (northern) countries have the right to determine what comes into their markets? If so, what are criteria for market protection/market access, and how can countries govern their imports with regard to extra-territorial responsibilities vis-à-vis exporting countries?
- Role of Exports: Does sustainable human development need exports? If so, what kind of exports?
- Supply Management: How can decreasing agricultural prices and high price volatilities on the world market be tackled?
- Subsidies: Does agriculture need public support? If so, what kind of support is legitimate?
Dinner discussion with European Commission staff
In September 2005, subsequent to the Expert Panel meeting in Aachen, the group convened two meetings in Brussels, one as a dinner with staff members of the European Commission. After two inputs by Sophia Murphy and Daniel de la Torre Ugarte as members of the Expert Panel, a vital discussion arose mainly about two questions: what could be appropriate instruments and institutional settings that reflect the distinctive economic functioning of agricultural markets, especially stark inelasticities in demand and supply and the problem of overproduction? And: is the increasing market concentration in agriculture reflected in the current WTO negotiations, and what are ways to cope with it?
Strategy workshop with Brussels NGO representatives
In a seminar hosted by CIDSE in Brussels, the Expert Panel also met with about 20 representatives from Brussels-based organizations and networks working on agriculture and trade issues. The aim of this meeting was to present the project to this audience and to discuss with them some of the concepts and instruments for an alternative regulation of agricultural trade being developed and discussed in the project. Most participants welcomed the initiative, and several gave constructive feedback and advice that was taken up by the Expert Panel. An appealing discussion in the plenary pursued long-term strategies and elements for an alternative agricultural trade architecture. One aspect was also the situation of the EcoFair Trade Dialogue in the broader context of civil society processes and efforts regarding agricultural trade issues.
EcoFair Trade Dialogue events at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong
All members of the Expert Panel except for one were present at the 6th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Hong Kong in December 2005. The EcoFair Trade Dialogue conducted two side events during the conference:
Public Hearing with peasant representatives
A three-hour public hearing was convened that brought together the experts of the EcoFair Trade Dialogue mainly with farmers and farmer representatives from around the world, asking them how to deal with the inherent tension between the interests of farmers to „own“ their local markets and to protect them from imports, and their export opportunities in other markets. As farmer representatives took part: Bruce Saunders, First Vice President of the Dairy Farmers of Canada; Pio Escarcha from the National Unity of Filipino Farmers (PKMP); Francois Dufour, co-founder and Spokesperson of the Confederation Paysanne (France); Monica Amolo, cotton farmer from Southern Nyanza Province in Kenya; and Laura Carlsen, collaborator with the Center for the Study of Rural Change in Mexico (CECCAM) and working closely with farmers movements in Latin America. A whole report can be found here
Dinner Dialogue with negotiators
In the format of a dinner dialogue, members of the Expert Panel took the opportunity to discuss with high-level decision makers and representatives from civil society organizations on the issue “Beyond the Agreement on Agriculture – How to negotiate a global framework for sustainable food production and fair trade?” Inputs from Hannes Lorenzen and Daniel de la Torre from the Expert Panel were followed by a responsefrom Claus Sørensen, Head of Cabinet of Agriculture Commissioner Fischer Boel of the EU Commission. A diverse audience from international institutions, civil society, farmers organizations, and parliaments participated in a very lively discussion.
Future meetings
The next expert panel meeting will take place in Senegal end of February 2006, back to back with the first Regional Consultation from March 3-4, which will confront various West African stakeholders with the ideas of the EcoFair Trade Dialogue in order to get feedback on policy papers and further shape the project’s overall messages. Additional Regional Consultations in Thailand, Brazil, Brussels and the U.S.A. will follow during spring and summer 2006. In October 2006, the fifth Expert Panel meeting and a Regional Consultation will be held in Mexico City.
