CCP: HF 03/1-JU 03/1  |
| CCP: HF 03/1-JU 03/1 |
COMMITTEE ON COMMODITY PROBLEMS |
JOINT MEETING OF THE |
Salvador, Brazil, 8 – 11 July 2003 |
PROVISIONAL AGENDA AND TIMETABLE |
II. ECONOMIC AND POLICY ISSUES AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL ACTIONS ON HARD FIBRES AND JUTE
A. INFORMAL PRICE ARRANGEMENTS FOR SISAL, ABACA, JUTE AND KENAF
B. COMMODITY DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES: COMMON FUND FOR COMMODITIES (CFC) PROJECTS ON HARD FIBRES
III. WORK PROGRAMME, MANDATE AND OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES
The Joint Meeting of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres (Thirty-second Session) and of the Intergovernmental Group on Jute, Kenaf and Allied Fibres (Thirty-fourth Session) will be held in Salvador, Brazil, 11 July 2003, opening at 9.30 hours. It will be preceded by a Consultation on Natural Fibres (8-9 July) and by the Thirteenth Session of the Sub-Group of Sisal and Henequen Producing Countries (9 July).
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 2002/2003. This will be the third 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 Joint Meeting of the two Groups held in Rome in December 2000 incorporated a Consultation on Natural Fibres. This Consultation, 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.
The Meeting will elect a Chairperson and two Vice-Chairpersons. The Joint Meeting of the Thirty-first Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres and the Thirty-third Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Jute, Kenaf and Allied Fibres in 2000 elected Mr O. Wilson (Tanzania) as Chairperson, Mr J. Schraven (Germany) as First Vice-Chairperson and Mr C. Fernandez (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 Report of the previous Joint Meeting of the Thirty-first Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres and the Thirty-third Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Jute, Kenaf and Allied Fibres was prepared in this manner, and the draft was 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-first Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres and the Thirty-third Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Jute, Kenaf and Allied Fibres in December 2000 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 03/2-JU 03/2) 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.
A matter for consideration by the Meeting is the potential inclusion of ramie within the mandate of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres, in its role as International Commodity Body (ICB), for the purpose of promoting projects to the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC).
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 May 2003.
At its Thirty-first Session in 1997 the Intergovernmental Group on Jute, Kenaf and Allied Fibres reviewed a list of research activities on jute, kenaf and allied fibres and recommended that the Secretariat establish a system for the regular collection and dissemination of information on these activities. More recently, in June 2002 at the International Coir Convention in Colombo, Sri Lanka, it was suggested that the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres could consider collecting and disseminating information on research activities on coir. The Meeting may wish to recommend a stronger role for FAO in collection and dissemination of information and research on all the natural fibres covered by these Groups. Document CCP: HF 03/3-JU 03/3 outlines initial steps taken by the Secretariat in this respect.
i) Report of the Intersessional Consultation on Fibres, London, United Kingdom, 26 November 2001
Following the recommendation of the Twenty-ninth Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres and the success of previous Informal Consultations on Hard Fibres, an Intersessional Consultation on Fibres, covering jute, hard fibres and other natural fibres was held in London, United Kingdom, 26 November 2001. The Report of the Consultation will be provided as document CCP: HF 03/4-JU 03/4. The Meeting may wish to assess the value of informal intersessional meetings and to make recommendations on future activities.
ii) Report of the Thirteenth Session of the Sub-Group of Sisal and Henequen Producing Countries
The Sub-Group is scheduled to meet on 9 July 2003, and its report will be presented to the Joint Meeting as CCP: HF 03/5-JU 03/5.
iii) Report on the Consultation on Natural Fibres
A Consultation is to precede the formal Joint Meeting of the Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres and of the Intergovernmental Group on Jute, Kenaf and Allied Fibres in Salvador, Brazil, 8-9 July 2003. 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.
Now, seven years later, it might be appropriate for the Meeting to reassess the validity of the Strategy, and to propose any changes which might now be useful. In order to assist the Meeting with its assessment of the strategy, document CCP: HF 96/9 will be reprinted and circulated.
The new International Jute Study Group (IJSG) was established in the course of 2002. The Intergovernmental Group enjoyed a cooperative relationship with the International Jute Organisation (IJO), the predecessor of the IJSG, and it may be appropriate to consider its relationship with the new body. To assist in this consideration, the Secretariat will prepare a short document (CCP: HF 03/6-JU 03/6) which will, inter alia, summarise the historical relationship with the IJO, and draw attention to some relevant provisions of the Terms of Reference of the IJSG.
Tuesday, 8 July 2003
- 09.30 hours: Consultation on Natural Fibres
Wednesday, 9 July
- 09.30 hours: (cont.) Consultation on Natural Fibres
- 14.30 hours: Opening of 13th Session of the IGG on Hand Fibres Sub-Group
of Sisal and Henequen Producing Countries
Thursday, 10 July Field visit to view sisal production and processing
Friday, 11 July
- 08.30 hours: Adoption of the Report of Sub-Group of Sisal and Henequen Producing Countries
- 09.30 hours: Opening of 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