30 April 2008

In May 2007, the Common Fund for Commodities, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, United Nations Development Programme and the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries joined forces to launch the Global Initiative on Commodities (GIC)—an inter-institutional initiative aimed at leveraging the power of commodity production and trade as a positive force for sustainable development across the developing world.  In the context of stagnant WTO agricultural talks in the framework of the Doha Round, the GIC aims to create a common voice to break the “conspiracy of silence” which has engulfed commodity-based development strategies over the past two decades.

At the conference in Brasilia in May 2007, participating governments strategised together over the course of a “GIC launch conference”.  The conference produced the “Brasilia Outcomes Paper” which set forth a series of strategic recommendations for enhancing the development impact of commodity production and trade globally.  One of the conclusions emanating from the conference was the need to build a coherent strategy—not just among countries—but among all stakeholders along the value chain.  With this in mind, the GIC organising committee commissioned the International Institute for Sustainable Development to conduct a global consultation process with Civil Society as a stepping stone to the integration of Civil Society Organisation (CSO) expertise and collaboration within the broader GIC process.

This consultation process, in which Banana Link participated, culminated in a workshop in Châtelaine, Geneva on 27th March 2008. The Declaration which came out of that day can be read here.

The Establishment of a Multi-Stakeholder Forum

This wider work on the development impact of commodity production and trade globally is of direct relevance the creation of a Multi-Stakeholder Forum on bananas.  This was first proposed at the 2nd International Banana Conference, held in Brussels in April 2005, and since a successful workshop at UNCTAD in October 2007, progress towards achieving this has accelerated faster than anticipated.  Representatives of WINFA, GAWU, COLSIBA, IUF and EUROBAN met with UNCTAD and FAO in Geneva in January 2008, which resulted in the agreement to start a formal preparatory process towards the establishment of the MSF in 2009.

For more information please download a summary of the Multi-Stakeholder forum on Bananas and visit the IBC2 website