Commonwealth meeting to explore ways of improving access of food products to EU markets

Representatives from farmers and food supply chain associations from around the Commonwealth will meet in London to explore ways of improving access to markets in Europe.

The meeting, Agricultural Symposium on Market Access Challenges and Sustainable Procurement, will take place on 30 September to 1 October 2010, at Marlborough House, the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Sujeevan Perera, a trade adviser at the Secretariat who is co-ordinating the symposium, said: “With more than two and a half billion people worldwide making their living from agriculture, improving access and trade conditions can make a real difference to the lives of people in the Commonwealth.”

Mr Perera pointed out that as many as 43 developing countries depend on a single agricultural commodity export for more than 20 per cent of their total export revenue. “Agricultural production is often a vulnerable sector with high costs and price fluctuations, where producers lack alternative livelihoods. Producers must sometimes continue to export even when the market price is below the cost of production,” he said.

“Agricultural supply chains are international, long and complicated. The actions of buyers, particularly when there are only a few large buyers and retailers, can pass down profound effects for the people who depend on agriculture for their livelihood.”

Christina Hajdu, a human rights adviser at the Secretariat, explained that global agricultural markets have an impact on the human rights of people and communities around the world.

“Global agricultural markets have an impact on the human rights of the people of the Commonwealth. Right to an adequate standard of living, rights to safe and healthy working conditions, to food, to health care, are issues that are at the very core of the Commonwealth’s values,” Ms Hajdu said.

The symposium is organised against the backdrop of the fact that agricultural and food producers from Commonwealth countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia face several challenges when supplying European Union markets. The meeting is being held to explore these and some solutions in more detail. It will provide a platform for Commonwealth suppliers to share their experiences, and for UK and EU policy-makers, retailers and other stakeholders to hear first-hand how these problems manifest themselves in different regions.

This symposium provides an opportunity for dialogue on key issues facing the agricultural community exporting from Commonwealth countries. It will also enable producers and EU policy-makers to discuss how public policy solutions can be developed and implemented to bring about fairer trading relationships within supply chains.

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