Statement by Amb. stephen NdŨn'gŨ karau to
the
Committee on Agriculture in Special
Session
1 June
2017
1 Introduction
1.1. Today is our first informal open-ended meeting of the Committee on
Agriculture in Special Session following my formal election as Chairman of the
Committee on Agriculture in Special Session on 26 April 2017.
1.2. This is also the first informal open-ended meeting of the Committee
on Agriculture in Special Session since November 2016.
1.3. This meeting therefore constitutes a very important moment in the
negotiation process that will lead us to Buenos Aires in December.
1.4. As indicated in my convening fax, this meeting will be divided in
two parts.
1.5. First, I will report to you on the consultations I have been holding
since my election.
1.6. Then, in the second part of our meeting, I will give you the floor.
I will do this in two steps.
1.7. At the beginning of this second part, I will give delegations the
opportunity to introduce their written communications and submissions
circulated since the last informal meeting of the Special Session.
1.8. I will then invite all delegations to express their views on their
expectations for Buenos Aires and their positions on the various topics in the
negotiation.
1.9. I also expect delegations to take this opportunity to report to the
whole Membership on the progress made during the last few weeks.
1.10. I will also invite delegations in a position to do so to comment on
the communications and submissions introduced today in their interventions.
1.11. Let me also remind Members that, as mandated by our Ministers in Nairobi,
negotiations on public stockholding (PSH) and the Special Safeguard Mechanism
(SSM) will take place in dedicated sessions of the CoA Special Session. We will
therefore take up PSH and SSM on tomorrow.
1.12. Let me now start with my report.