Overview         Program         Keynote Speakers         Documents Download          Register now!

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS NOW AVAILABLE

 CLICK ON  ”DOWNLOAD DOCUMENTS ” LINK ABOVE

Let the Good Products Flow!

For ten years, FAO, IFOAM and UNCTAD have worked in partnership to address and reduce barriers to trade of organic products resulting from the global proliferation of organic standards and technical regulations. At this high-level International Conference, the partners drew together a distinguished group of public and private sector leaders to examine the past, present and future of organic market access relative to systems of organic standards and conformity assessment. The conference looked at emerging issues, such as the potential for organic standards to promote the growth of organic agriculture vis-à-vis their potential to stifle growth. Developments and challenges for dominant and emerging exporting/importing economies and for still-developing countries were highlighted and discussed. Models of public-private and regional cooperation were considered as potential pathways for global solutions to the challenges.

In addition to three eminent keynote speakers – Harsha V. Singh, Deputy Director-General WTO, Kathleen Merrigan, US Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, and Franz Fishler, former Agriculture Commissioner EU – participants wereafforded an opportunity to discuss key issues with distinguished government and private-sector speakers from  Brazil, Canada,  China, Great Britain, France, India, Malaysia, the Netherlands, , Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uganda and United States. Representatives of intergovernmental and international organizations such as The European Commission, FAO, International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, International Trade Commission, International Organic Accreditation Service , Pacific Islands Community and UNCTAD  also contributed to the presentations and discussions.