ENB @ ITPGR GB-1; 12-16 June 2006; Madrid, Spain; Highlights for Tuesday, 13 June 2006

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"> ENB @ ITPGR GB-1; 12-16 June 2006; Madrid, Spain; Highlights for Tuesday, 13 June 2006

First Meeting of the Governing Body of the
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

12-16 June 2006| Madrid, Spain

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SUMMARY

Highlights for Tuesday, 13 June 2006

On Tuesday, 13 June 2006, a Ministerial Segment, held in parallel with the first session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the Treaty or ITPGR), met throughout the day and adopted a Ministerial Declaration. Working Group II (WG-II) continued consideration of the financial rules and commenced discussions on the funding strategy. Working Group I was suspended so that a contact group on the standard Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) could meet throughout the day. The financial rules contact group reconvened at lunchtime and a budget committee convened in the evening.

MINISTERIAL SEGMENT

Elena Espinosa (Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food), opened the Ministerial Segment, and emphasized the Treaty’s importance for plant genetic resource conservation, food security and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Jacques Diouf (FAO Director-General) called upon participants to adopt a draft ministerial declaration and reflect the Treaty’s objectives in national programmes and legislation and development strategies. Upon a motion by Minister Espinosa, participants adopted the declaration by acclamation.

From left to right: Josep Puxeu (Secretary General of Agriculture and Food, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Spain), Jacques Diouf (Director General, FAO), Elena Espinosa (Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food), Raúl González (Spanish Ambassador to FAO), and José Esquinas Alcázar (CGRFA).



	Several participants acknowledged the interconnectedness of global food security, farmers’ rights, poverty alleviation, the Millennium Development Goals and benefit-sharing.



	Tom Teehan (Chief Inspector, Department of Agriculture and Food, Ireland).		Jafar Khalghani (Deputy Minister and Head of Agricultural Research and Education Organization, Iran).

Contact Group: MATERIAL TRANSFER AGREEMENT



	Brett Walker (Australia, on behalf of Southwest Pacific - left) opposed text stating that nothing in the MTA shall be interpreted as implying a change in ITPGR parties' rights and obligations.		Modesto Fernández (Cuba, on behalf of GRULAC) proposed drafting a Governing Body resolution on the relationship between parties to the Treaty and parties to the MTA.



Bert Visser (the Netherlands, on behalf of the European Region) proposed that the MTA recognize national rules on arbitration, noting the need to recognize rules beyond the control of the Governing Body.	Campbell G. Davidson (Canada, on behalf of the North American Region) opposed text stating that the third party beneficiary has the right to monitor MTA execution.	Javad Mozafari (Iran, on behalf of the Near East Region) requested retaining text on reporting intellectual property rights obtained by the recipient to the third party beneficiary.



	On the definition of "products," Sugiono Moeljopawiro (Indonesia, on behalf of Asian Region) and Elizabeth Matos (Angola, on behalf of the African Region) supported the Drafting Group Chair’s recommendation to use "a PGRFA that incorporates the Material or any part thereof, excluding commodities, that is ready for commercialization".

Working Group II:

FINANCIAL RULES



	Carlos Amaral (Angola, on behalf of the Africa Group - left), supported by Kouable Bi Bo (Côte D'Ivoire - middle) and Elisabeth Koren (Norway - right) supported the indicative scale of voluntary contributions.

FUNDING STRATEGY



	Margaret Gutiérrez (Venezuela, on behalf of GRULAC) proposed deleting a reference to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), noting the CBD’s funding problems.		Nathalie Dault (Canada) proposed deleting references to the Secretariat "ensuring" developed country parties’ provision of adequate resources.



	On country reporting on capacity-building programmes, Blotoyoum Koumbrait (Chad), supported Australia's proposal that all countries should report.		On the establishment of a trust account, Cosima Hufler (Austria, on behalf of the EU), proposed the establishment of an ad hoc advisory committee to formulate its terms of reference.