Highlights and images for 11 July 2025

The last day of the meeting started with a visit to the International Potato Center, one of the international agricultural research centers of the CGIAR, and finished with late-night deliberations on the meeting’s report. 

Reflecting upon the upcoming 11th session of the Governing Body (GB 11), to be held in Lima in November 2025, delegates acknowledged that the Working Group made progress on technical matters and put forward several ideas to help reach consensus.  

In particular, they cited advancements on the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA), as well as the open discussion on payment rates, the partial subscription option, and the recognition of the need for flexibility in implementing the expansion of the crops in the Multilateral System (MLS). The time has now come for a political decision on the entire package of measures, they concluded.  

During the day’s deliberations, the Working Group reviewed draft text regarding the amendment of the Treaty’s Annex I, which noted that:  

• the MLS shall cover all other plant genetic resources for food and agriculture that are under the management and control of parties and in the public domain in ex situ collections;  
• a party may exceptionally declare exemptions regarding a limited number of species native to its territory at the time of ratification; and  
• GB 14 may decide that parties may declare additional exemptions within a specified time-period.  

Developing countries reiterated that their willingness to expand Annex I is contingent upon agreement on the payment structure and rates. Pending such agreement, they suggested language to accommodate their concerns. While the entire text remained bracketed, a number of proposals were forwarded to the Secretariat for inclusion in the report of the meeting. 

On digital sequence information / genetic sequence data (DSI/GSD) on genetic resources, the Working Group addressed draft resolution text prepared by a small group. The debate confirmed that benefit-sharing from the use of DSI/GSD is at the heart of the political compromise that will need to be achieved at GB 11. Civil society urged delegates to reach out to stakeholders to enhance understanding of the complexities of the matter, including implications of terms, such as “accountability” and “open access.”  

Following a lengthy debate, the Working Group adopted its report, to be forwarded to GB 11. The meeting closed at 12:36 am.