32nd Session of the FAO Conference in Rome

The 32nd FAO Conference, the principal Governing Body of this Organization which meets every two years, was opened on 29 November by Director General Jacques Diouf. The European Community was represented by Franz Fischler, Commissioner responsible for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries. The four-day Ministerial segment of the Conference dealt with the traditional review of the state of food and agriculture in the world. The Ministerial debate was also highlighted by the organization of three Round Tables, which provided high-level officials with the opportunity to discuss key topics such as Water, WTO agricultural negotiations and Food safety. Among its most important issues, the Conference will decide on the Organization's budget for the 2004-2005 biennium.

On 1st December, in his address in the plenary session, Commissioner Fischler welcomed the recent accession of the EC to Codex Alimentarius, focused on the actions of the Community in alleviating poverty and combating hunger and reiterated the strong and full commitment of the EC to the WTO negotiations. In that respect, on 2nd December, he attended, together with other 57 participants, the Round Table on Developments in the WTO negotiations on agriculture, where there was a frank exchange of views in all the important areas of the agricultural trade negotiations. During both these interventions, the Commissioner reiterated the EC absolute priority to a multilateral approach to trade negotiations, the full engagement to re-launch the WTO negotiations after the failure in Cancun, the necessity for flexibility on all sides as well as the need for developing countries to have a better deal.

In the margins of the Conference, Commissioner Fischler has held bilateral and multilateral meetings with Ministers from both developed and developing countries, during which he seized the opportunity to explore avenues on how to kick-start the WTO talks on agriculture and laid out Europe's position after Cancun.

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• Statement by Commissioner Fischler at the FAO Ministerial Conference in Rome (1/12/2003)