UN PLANS 2005 MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL SUMMIT
The UN General Assembly met from 22-23 November to plan for a 14-16 September 2005 Summit on the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The General Assembly agreed upon a set of proposals presented by the UN Secretary General for the high-level mid-term summit, to be held in New York City. The summit will follow the format and structure of the Millennium Summit, namely, three days of plenary debate made up of two meetings per day and four roundtable discussions, but owing to security reasons and the space limitations will not include " broader participation of civil society," which is instead expected to make a "valuable contribution to the preparatory process". At the General Assembly meeting, countries welcomed the opportunity presented by the mid-term review of the MDGs. South Africa said that the review was "urgent" because progress towards the eradication of extreme poverty was uneven and deteriorating in some cases. On behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, the representative from Qatar stressed that trade was now a main avenue of revenue that could help developing nations achieve their development goals. He said there was a lack of basic resources to empower some nations to participate fully in the global trading system, and certain trade policies had effectively denied a large number of developing countries the benefits of globalisation.
During the Millennium Summit held in New York in September 2000, all 189 UN member states adopted the Millennium Declaration, which contained a core group of goals and targets that have since become known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These eight goals are centred on national targets for poverty, child mortality, maternal health, education, gender equality, and environmental sustainability and include a target for establishing an international trade and finance policy framework that favours development. The UN Strategy for achieving the goals includes the Millennium Project, which analyses policy options and will develop a plan of implementation for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (see BRIDGES Weekly, 29 September 2004), the Millennium Campaign, which mobilises political support, country-level monitoring and operational country-level activities.
The new Millennium Campaign Website can be accessed here.
ICTSD Reporting; "Modalities, format and organization of the high-level plenary meeting of the sixtieth session of the General Assembly: Report of the Secretary-General," UN A/59/545, 1 November 2004; "General Assembly Discusses Preparations for 2005 High-Level Review of Millenium Summit," UN Press Release GA/10303, 23 November 2004.
SAARC ECONOMIC MINISTERS MEET IN ISLAMABAD
On 22-23 November the fourth meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Commerce Ministers — attended by ministers from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka — was held in Islamabad, Pakistan. In his welcoming statement, Pakistani commerce minister Humayun Akhtar Khan said that the expansion in trade that would result from the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), which was signed at the SAARC Summit in January 2004, would create opportunities and regional cooperation enabling each country to succeed in eliminating hunger and poverty in the future. In their statements, countries referred to the challenges of globalisation, mutual recognition of standards arrangements, and the need for developing common SAARC positions in WTO negotiations. Ministers said that negotiations needed to be completed on issues such as sensitive products lists, rules of origin, and mechanisms for providing LDC members compensation for trade-related revenue losses as well as technical assistance. As well, ministers noted the need to conclude draft agreements on customs matters, investment protection and promotion, the establishment of a SAARC arbitration council and double taxation rules. The ministers created a special committee to examine a Sri Lankan to request the European Commission to count the SAARC and ASEAN countries as a single region for the purposes of the rules of origin in its GSP scheme (see BRIDGES Weekly, 27 October 2004, http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/04-10-27/story5.htm)
ICTSD Reporting; "SAARC Commerce Ministers Meeting Concluded," PAKISTAN COMMERCE MINISTRY, 24 November 2004; "India insists Pak grant MFN status," PTI, 24 November 2004; "Granting MFN status linked to solution of Kashmir issue: Aziz," INDIAEXPRESS BUREAU, 24 November 2004; "South Asian commerce ministers meet for expanding regional trade," XINHUA, 22 November 2004.
CRAFTING OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCE TREATY PROCESS BEGINS
The second session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA), acting as the Interim Committee for the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR), convened from 15-19 November in Rome, Italy. The session, which focused primarily on procedural issues, agreed to set up two groups to prepare for the first meeting of the ITPGR Governing Body, scheduled to meet in Spain in 2005 or 2006. The ITPGR (available here) is a legally binding instrument that targets the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources and equitable benefit sharing for sustainable agriculture and food security. At the November meeting, countries agreed to establish an open-ended inter-sessional working group to address the procedural and financial rules for the Governing Body, the funding strategy and procedures for compliance. The decision followed extensive discussion on a text on procedural and financial rules. The meeting heard a report on the standard Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) from the Expert Group, which will facilitate transfer of genetic resources by setting minimum standards for access to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) held in the Multilateral System for Access and Benefit sharing set up by the treaty (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 21 October 2004). Countries agreed on Terms of Reference for a contact group to develop a draft standard MTA for consideration by the Governing Body.
The ITPGR came into force on 29 June 2004 and is centred upon a Multilateral System for Access and Benefit Sharing, which would allow plant breeders, farmers and research institutions to access 64 important crops and forages from around the world more freely and share the benefits derived from these resources (see BRIDGES Weekly, 7 July 2004). It aims to allow better access to key resources, but at the same time is constrained by lack of funds, limited negotiation capacity among participants and difficulties deciding exactly what the benefit sharing scheme would look like.
For a full report of the meeting, see IISD’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin
ICTSD reporting; ENB Vol. 9 No. 300.