Results of the FAO-CSOs Regional Consultation for Europe and Central Asia and about the FAO Regional Conference (Armenia, May 2010)
All the versions of this article: [English] [français] European Consultation, Conference and Commission on Agriculture European Consultation, Conference and Commission on AgricultureThe FAO-CSOs Regional Consultation for Europe and Central Asia took place in Yerevan (Armenia) on 10 and 11 May 2010. Which countries are member of the FAO Region for Europe and Central Aisa ?Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan. At the agenda of the ConsultationThe third draft of the agenda of the FAO-CSOs Consultation can now be downloaded. It takes into account the agendas of the Governmental meetings that will take place the 3 days after the FAO-CSOs Consultation: the European Regional Conference (ERC) and the European Commission on Agriculture (ECA). Registration for the Consultation of YerevanIt is necessary to register to participate at the Consultation in Yerevan and you can ask us to book for a hotel. It is possible to participate at the other meetings in Yerevan (Regional Conference, Commission of agriculture...) as observer if you hacve registered for the Consultation. Administrative requirements to enter ArmeniaFor your information, no entry visa is required for the holders of valid passports issued by some countries (list of February 25, 2010): Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan. At the agendas of the Conference and the Commission on AgricultureThe FAO European Regional Conference (ERC) is the regional FAO political body for Europe and Central Asia, gathering every two years on the specific regional issues or on global issues that have a link with the Region. The FAO European Commission on Agriculture (ECA) is a technical body, that meets the day immediately before the ERC and discuss about selected technical issues that of priority in the Region. The outcomes and recommendations are presented to the ERC. Other events will take place during the same week in Yerevan: For more information and preparatory documents for the FAO meetings in Yerevan, see the website of the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia The organization of the Consultation in YerevanAt the previous 26th ERC held in Innsbruck, Austria in June 2008, it was agreed that the next Consultation in Armenia, that has to be organized for the CSOs at the Armenian level, by a national Host Committee, should be taken in charge by the national organization “Protection of consumers’rights” (contact Mr Abgar Yeghoyan, Tel.: +374 10 543818, Fax: +374 10 543843, E-mail: upcr@web.am). The Armenian consumers’ organization is responsible to set up a national NGO-CSO national Armenian Host Committee that includes organizations of different sectors, with components such as development organizations, farmers‘ organizations, breeders’ and pastoralists’ organizations, rural development organizations, fishers’ organizations, environment ‘ organizations, consumers‘ organizations, health organizations, etc. At European level, a Steering Committee was set up on the initiative of the Geographical Focal Point for Europe of the International Planning Committee (IPC) for Food Sovereignty, a role played until now by the Collective for Food Strategies (Collectif Stratégies Alimentaires) based in Brussels (contact Daniel Van Der Steen, Tel.: +32 2 412 06 60, Fax +32 2 412 06 66, e-mail : daniel.vandersteen@csa-be.org, website : http://www.csa-be.org). The role of the European Steering committee is to achieve the agenda for the Consultation, to invite the participants at the Consultation, to chose and to invite the spokes persons, to find solutions in order to fund the interested organizations that are not able to support the cost of their participation (travel costs and/or staying costs), to stay in contact with the regional FAO office for Europe and Central Asia, etc. The FAO- NGOs/CSOs Consultation, that addresses technical themes that are on the ERC agenda, is supported by FAO and the outcomes of the Consultation will be reported to the Conference and included in its report. An upgraded role of Regional Conferences in 2010 after the FAO reform and external assessmentThe new importance of the Regional Conferences in 2010 is related to the renewed world context after the food and other crisis the world faced from the year 2008. As the FAO points out concerning the consultations from 2010, “the world leaders have renewed their commitments made in global summits that culminated at the "L’Aquila" G8 Summit, the World Summit on Food Security and the UN FCCC Copenhagen Conference of Parties in 2009. According to a review process of FAO’s Strategy and Policy for Cooperation with CSOs and NGOs conducted in 2008, FAO’s comparative advantage as an honest broker provides a neutral space for negotiating government commitments in the context of international treaties, codes of conduct and other agreements, in providing policy advice to governments at national and regional levels, and in facilitating a constructive dialogue between governments and civil society. The review highlighted the need to further build national, regional and international alliances among stakeholders and bring their experiences to the fore in order to keep food security on the top of the agenda. The FAO Regional Conferences in 2010 will be extremely important given the ongoing FAO reform, the need to establish and increase partnerships between FAO, other UN food related agencies, donors and existing regional integration mechanisms and the need to explore modalities for CSO and NGO participation at regional level in the new world food governance system. It is also important to update information on the existence of regional spaces for civil society engagement in policy dialogue and advocacy for agriculture, rural development and food security in order to consider possible synergies.”
Presentation of speakers during the ConsultationSee the presentation of Shelby Matthews, of Jacques Berthelot, of Noel de Luna and of Thomas Price. Important documents for the European FAO-CSOs/NGOs Consultationtitre documents joints
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