CCP: HF 04/1-JU 04/1  |
| CCP: HF 04/1-JU 04/1 |
COMMITTEE ON COMMODITY PROBLEMS |
JOINT MEETING OF THE |
Rome, 14 – 17 December 2004 |
PROVISIONAL AGENDA AND TIMETABLE |
The Joint Meeting of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres (Thirty-third Session) and of the Intergovernmental Group on Jute, Kenaf and Allied Fibres (Thirty-fifth Session) will be held in Rome, Italy, 17 December 2004, opening at 10.00 hours. It will be preceded by the Fourteenth Session of the Sub-Group of Sisal and Henequen Producing Countries (14-16 December) and by a Consultation on Natural Fibres (15-16 December).
The Committee on Commodity Problems (CCP), at its Sixty-second Session in January 1999, endorsed the convening of joint meetings of related IGGs, and this Joint Meeting of these two Groups was subsequently provided for in the Director-General’s Programme of Work and Budget for 2004/2005. This will be the fourth occasion on which these two Intergovernmental Groups meet on a joint basis. The CCP also requested that efforts be made to organize on a trial basis one or more ad hoc conferences dealing with related commodities, and the past two Joint Meetings of the two Groups have incorporated a Consultation on Natural Fibres. A Consultation to be held immediately prior to this Joint Meeting, will allow additional time to be spent on issues facing individual fibres, as well as addressing issues common to more than one fibre. In particular, it will devote time to the dissemination of results from recently-completed CFC projects.
The Meeting will elect a Chairperson and two Vice-Chairpersons. The Joint Meeting of the Thirty-second Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres and the Thirty-fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Jute, Kenaf and Allied Fibres in 2003 elected
Mr W. Andrade (Brazil) as Chairperson, Mr R. Rüppell (Germany) as First Vice-Chairperson and Mr S. Bhargava (India) as Second Vice-Chairperson.
The Committee on Commodity Problems (CCP), at its Sixty-second Session, decided that, “on a trial basis and for selected Intergovernmental Groups to be determined in consultation with their Chairpersons, the final report of the session recording recommendations and major conclusions will be prepared by the Secretariat or a Rapporteur and despatched to participants within two weeks.” The Reports of the previous two Joint Meetings of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres and the Intergovernmental Group on Jute, Kenaf and Allied Fibres were prepared in this manner, and the drafts were sent to the Chairman for his final approval.
Following consultations with the Bureau, it is proposed that this procedure be adopted again for this Joint Meeting. The Secretariat would draft a record of the major conclusions of the Meeting on the basis of the Chairperson’s concluding comments for each item discussed. The draft report would be considered by the Chairperson and the two Vice-Chairpersons prior to despatch to participants.
In the light of the consideration of market prospects which will have been broadly covered in the course of the preceeding conference, the Meeting may wish to recommend appropriate indicative prices for East African and Brazilian sisal, sisal baler twine, abaca fibre, Bangladesh jute and Thai kenaf.
The Joint Meeting of the Thirty-second Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres and the Thirty-fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Jute, Kenaf and Allied Fibres in 2003 made the following recommendations:
The Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres is a designated International Commodity Body (ICB) under the rules of the Common Fund for Commodities, and in this role, it has promoted projects on sisal, abaca and coir. The Intergovernmental Group on Jute, Kenaf and Allied Fibres does not have a similar responsibility. The Secretariat will present a document (CCP: HF 04/2-JU 04/2) which details recent progress on hard fibres projects, and on the status of projects proposed for financing. Further action on these projects may be considered as well as the formulation and promotion of potential new projects.
The Meeting may wish to review any additional project profiles on hard fibres submitted for its consideration. Such proposals should reach the Secretariat before the end of October 2004.
i) Report of the Intersessional Consultation on Fibres, FAO Headquarters,
Rome, 26 March 2004
Following the recommendation of the Twenty-ninth Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres and the success of previous Informal Consultations, the fifth Intersessional Consultation on Fibres, covering jute, hard fibres and other natural fibres was held in Rome,
26 March 2004. The Report of the Consultation will be provided as document
CCP: HF 04/3-JU 04/3. The Meeting may wish to assess the value of informal intersessional meetings and to make recommendations on future activities.
ii) Report of the Fourteenth Session of the Sub-Group of Sisal and Henequen Producing Countries, Rome, 14-16 December 2004
The Sub-Group is scheduled to meet on 14-16 December 2004, and its report will be presented to the Joint Meeting as CCP: HF 04/5-JU 04/5.
iii) Report on the Consultation on Natural Fibres, Rome, 15-16 December 2004
A Consultation is to precede the formal Joint Meeting of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres and the Intergovernmental Group on Jute, Kenaf and Allied Fibres at FAO, Rome, 15-16 December 2004. A verbal report on the Consultation will be made to the Joint Meeting.
At its Twenty-ninth Session in 1996 the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres adopted a development strategy for hard fibres as contained in document CCP: HF 96/9. The strategy was developed in order to meet the requirement of the Common Fund for Commodities that projects submitted for funding be accompanied by evidence as to how they fit into an overall strategy for the commodity. At the same time, the development of a strategy was expected to serve a broader purpose for the Group, indicating its priorities and guiding the Secretariat in the work it undertakes in support of the Group.
The strategy document was reviewed by the Joint Meeting of the Thirty-second Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres and the Thirty-fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Jute, Kenaf and Allied Fibres in 2003. The Meeting requested the Secretariat to begin formulating a broader strategy to include environmental, trade and social issues, encompassing also a broader range of natural fibres and particularly looking at mechanisms by which the Group might pursue its objectives. A revised draft strategy will be presented to the Meeting as document CCP: HF 04/4-JU 04/4.
Tuesday, 14 December
- 14.30 hours: Opening of 14th Session of the IGG on Hard Fibres Sub-Group of Sisal and Henequen Producing Countries
Wednesday, 15 December
- 10.00 hours: Consultation on Natural Fibres
Thursday, 16 December
- 09.30 hours: Adoption of the Report of Sub-Group of Sisal and Henequen Producing Countries
- 10.00 hours: (cont.) Consultation on Natural Fibres
Friday, 17 December
- 10.00 hours: Opening of the Joint Meeting of the Thirty-third Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres and the Thirty-fifth Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Jute, Kenaf and Allied Fibres