FEBRUARY 2005
MEDITERRANEAN FISHERIES COMMISSION TO BE
HEADQUARTERED IN ROME
The FAO's General Fisheries
Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) announced that Rome, Italy,
will be the site of its new headquarters. The GFCM is an
intergovernmental organization established within the FAO framework
and comprised of 23 Member countries and the Commission of the
European Union. Its mission is to promote the development, rational
management, responsible utilization and conservation of living
marine resources in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
Link to further information
Mediterranean Fisheries Commission to be Headquartered in Rome,
FAO news, 22 February 2005
JANUARY 2005
EUROPEAN COMMISSION RELEASES 2004
ENVIRONMENT POLICY REVIEW
The European Commission's second
annual Environment Policy Review (EPR) was released in January 2005.
The EPR highlights the main developments in environmental policy at
EU and Member State level in 2004 and indicates the main issues to
come up in 2005. The EPR also serves to monitor progress towards the
EU's key environmental goals, as set out in the 6th Environmental
Action Programme. The 2004 Review highlights the relationship
between environment and the economy, and points to new evidence on
how environment policy and eco-innovation can promote economic
growth and maintain and create jobs. It confirms recent data that
eco-industries have been performing better than the rest of the
economy. Europe needs to invest more in innovative ways to protect
the environment while boosting the EU's competitiveness. The EPR is
intended to provide the environmental input to feed into discussions
at the EU Spring Council.
Links to further
information
European Commission 2004 Environment Policy Review
JAMAICA ASSUMES G77 CHAIRMANSHIP
Qatar handed the Chairmanship of the Group of 77 to Jamaica on 25
January. In his statement at the handing over ceremony in New York,
Jamaica's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade K.D. Knight
highlighted the Group's priorities for 2005, including: increasing
resource flows to developing countries, improving global governance,
formulating a common development agenda, enhancing South-South
cooperation, and exploring new mechanisms in the area of disaster
management and relief.
During the ceremony, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
underscored the need for the G-77 to maintain focus on development
and promote urgent consideration of new ideas on how to raise
resources for development. According to a UN press release, Annan
identified the UK-proposed International Finance Facility and
Brazil's initiative on hunger and Poverty as means of supporting the
development agenda.
Links to
further information
Jamaica's
statement at the handing over ceremony, 25 January 2005
UN press release, 25 January 2005
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE G8 PRESIDENCY
The United
Kingdom assumed the Presidency of the G8 on 1 January 2005. British Prime
Minister Tony Blair has indicated that the focus of the Presidency will
be on the challenges of Africa and climate change.
Among other things, the focus on Africa
will seek to further develop the Joint Africa/G8 plan -
agreed at the Evian G8 Summit in 2003 -
to enhance African capabilities to
undertake peace support operations.
On climate
change, Prime Minister
Blair has said the issue is "probably, long-term the single most
important issue we face as a global community." The UK's three broad
aims for climate change in 2005 comprise: building a scientific
foundation, in particular on exploring the relationships between
greenhouse gas emissions and the associated level of climate change;
reaching agreement on how to speed up the science, development of
technology and other measures necessary to meet the threat; and engaging
countries outside the G8 who have growing energy needs, such as China
and India, on how these needs can be met sustainably and how they can
adapt to climate change impacts.
Other
topics that will be addressed during the 2005
G8 Summit, which will take place at the
Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland from 6-8 July,
include counter terrorism, non
proliferation and supporting reform in the Middle East.
Several key meetings will feed into the
Gleneagles Summit, including:
-
1-3
February: Scientific Conference on Climate Change, Hadley
Centre for Climate Research and Prediction, Met Office, Exeter, UK
-
4-5 February: G7 Finance
Ministers meeting, London, UK
-
10-11
March: G8 Employment
Ministers Meeting, London, UK
-
15-16
March: International
Energy/Environment Ministers Roundtable, London, UK
-
17-18
March: G8 Environment and
Development Ministers Meeting, Derbyshire, UK
-
11-12
May: Workshop on
Innovation and Research for Energy - WIRE, Oxford, UK
-
16-17
June: G8 Justice and
Interior Ministers, Sheffield, UK
The Russian Federation will head the
2006 Presidency, and Germany will take the reigns in 2007.
Links to
further information
G8 Gleneagles 2005 website
http://www.g8.gov.uk/
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