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FTAA.ngag/com/21
September 20, 2002
Original: English-Spanish
Translation: non FTAA Secretariat
FTAA - NEGOTIATING GROUP ON AGRICULTURE
Twenty-First Meeting
Panama, September 16 - 20, 2002
PRESS COMMUNIQUE
The Twenty-first Meeting of the Negotiating Group on Agriculture (NGAG)
took place in Panama City, Panama from September 16-20, 2002. The
following delegations attended: Argentina, Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil,
Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama,
Paraguay, Peru, United States, and Venezuela.
The NGAG agreed on the agenda, which is
attached to this press communiqué. All the items on the agenda were
covered.
The work of the Group centered on: (1) following up to the Trade
Negotiations Committee (TNC) meeting in the Dominican Republic; (2)
discussing the organization of the tariff negotiations; and (3) discussing
recommendations on the process of identifying a preliminary inventory of
non-tariff measures, in order to establish a methodology, including a
schedule, where appropriate, for the elimination, reduction, definition,
further definition, further disciplining and/or prevention of non-tariff
measures.
The Tripartite Committee made presentations on: (i) the Hemispheric Data
Base (HDB), including an explanation on how to extract data and on how to
use such information in other software; and (ii) presentation of tariff
offers. It also reported to the Group on the status of, and inputs to, the
Hemispheric Data Base (HDB), and distributed a complete version of the HDB
user’s manual.
The Group informs that it received no additional contributions from the
Committee of Government Representatives on the Participation of Civil
Society.
FTAA – NEGOTIATING GROUP ON AGRICULTURE
Twenty-First Meeting
Panama, September 16 - 20, 2002
AGENDA
(Note: the distribution of time among the different
agenda items is only notional and will be adjusted according to the
progress made during the meeting) MONDAY 16:
3:00
PM – 6:00 PM
1) General Issues:
i. Follow up of List of Tasks
ii. Notifications and Counter-Notifications of Sanitary and
Phytosanitary measures
iii. Identification of non-tariff measures
iv. Contributions forwarded by the Committee of Government
Representatives on the Participation of Civil Society
2) Follow up to the TNC meeting in the Dominican Republic
TUESDAY 17:
3) Presentations by the Tripartite Committee on:
i. Hemispheric Data Base;
ii. Presentation of tariff offers
Continuation # 2: Follow up to the TNC meeting in the Dominican
Republic
WEDNESDAY 18:
Continuation # 2: Follow up to the TNC meeting in the Dominican
Republic
THURSDAY 19:
4) Methods for the Exchange of Offers
FRIDAY 20:
5) Recommendations on the
process of identifying a preliminary inventory of non-tariff
measures, in order to establish a methodology, including a schedule,
where appropriate, for the elimination, reduction, definition,
further definition, further disciplining and/or prevention of
non-tariff measures (Instruction 4)
6) Other Issues:
i. Summary report from the 21st meeting
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