VZCZCXRO7728
RR RUEHAG RUEHBZ RUEHGI RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHPB RUEHPOD
DE RUEHGV #0350/01 1261455
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061455Z MAY 09
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8383
INFO RUCNWTO/WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3017
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME
RUEHAB/AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN 0315
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0370
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GENEVA 000350 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR IO/T, IO/EDA, EEB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD EINV EFIN UNCTAD
SUBJECT: UNCTAD Commodities and Development Meeting and Actions 
 
GENEVA 00000350  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  This is an Action request, see para 12. 
 
¶2.  SUMMARY: At UNCTAD's Multi-Year Expert Meeting on Commodities 
and Development on April 6-7, expert discussion focused on the need 
for regulation of commodity markets and the need to address the 
problem of speculation, which was considered to be a cause of both 
volatile markets and price increases.  The situations in oil and 
gas, agricultural commodities, minerals and metals, and fisheries 
and forestry markets were discussed as well as the challenges and 
possible solutions for each commodity area. END SUMMARY 
 
¶3. Background:  At the twelfth ministerial meeting of the UN 
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) held in Accra, Ghana in 
April 2008, member states recognized the importance of expert 
meetings, to share experiences and best practices, and for 
networking among experts (para 207, Accra Accord).  Member states 
also highlighted the importance of international commodity bodies 
and commodity sectors, including agriculture, forestry, fisheries, 
metals and minerals, and oil and gas (para 91).  The April 6-7 
UNCTAD's Multi-Year Expert Meeting on Commodities and Development 
was a response to the Accra mandate.  The meeting was attended by 
about 75 experts and member state observers. 
 
¶4. Ambassador Gauze from the Ivory Coast, Chairman of the meeting, 
stated that we are currently in a market of risk, which has caused a 
drop in demand for commodities.  This is demonstrated by iron, 
mineral, and oil prices, which have dropped over sixty percent in 
the last six months.  Expert speaker Gati Saadi Al-Jebouri, CEO of 
Litasco S.A., talked about the current issues facing the oil 
industry, including the instability of prices.  Al Jebouri warned 
that if reductions in worldwide investment in oil continue, a 
reduction in production will follow, which will eventually result in 
higher oil prices. 
 
¶5. The relationship between oil and food prices was highlighted by 
experts, including Professor Gilbert of the University of Trento. 
He explained that high oil prices lead to a demand for biofuels, 
made from products such as maize and vegetable oils.  This demand 
for biofuels generally occurs when oil prices surpass $70 per 
barrel.  High food prices are also caused by high fertilizer prices, 
high freight rates, and high production costs.  Several participants 
stressed the importance of addressing volatility in commodity prices 
through stronger regulation of commodity markets. 
 
¶6. Experts' discussion on the issue of forestry was largely focused 
on the economic crisis, which has greatly affected timber prices. 
Christopher Prins, Chief of ECE/FAO Timber Section, discussed the 
timber industry in North America, which is being drastically 
effected by the rising inventory of unsold homes and the extreme 
drop in demand for new housing projects.  He stated that forest 
production in Canada, which is the United States' main trading 
partner for forestry, is expected to lose another $750 million to $1 
billion in revenue in 2009.  Short term solutions were mentioned and 
included cost-cutting in production, product diversification, and 
exploring renewable energy from wood. 
 
¶7.  Experts noted that approximately 1 billion people, many of them 
from developing counties and LDCs, depend on fish and marine 
products as their main source of livelihood, foreign income and 
domestic savings. International trade in fish and fish products, 
valued at USD 86 billion in 2008, is growing at about 4 per cent per 
year, driven largely by high per capita consumption in Japan, the 
United States, and the European Union. Participants noted the 
significant growth of aquaculture farming - particularly in Asia, 
led by China and Viet Nam - compared to captured fish. Overfishing 
and the depletion of fish stocks are threatening the sustainability 
of the fisheries sector, and participants stated that this issue 
should be addressed. 
 
¶8.  During the session entitled "Improving transparency and 
accountability at all levels and for all participants in the 
commodity sector," the United States made a statement about the 
importance of transparency, good governance, and accountability. 
This statement was well-received by experts and other member states. 
 
 
¶9. In his summary, the Chairman noted many challenges that are faced 
in the commodities industry today, including macroeconomic 
challenges, volatile prices, lack of diversification, poor supply 
chain linkages, high transportation costs, difficulty accessing 
financial markets, and limited market access due to trade barriers. 
Suggestions for future action included the collection of reliable 
and timely data in production regions, the integration of 
 
GENEVA 00000350  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
agricultural policies with other sectoral policies, minimization of 
rent-seeking and corruption, avoiding development of industrial 
enclaves, and climate-proofing agriculture through better 
technology. It was also noted that UNCTAD should do more work to 
strengthen the domestic commodity sectors in commodity-dependent 
developing countries (CDDCs).  Specifically, experts said that 
UNCTAD should undertake a comprehensive review of all current 
multilateral and bilateral assistance to CDDCs in order to identify 
gaps and priority areas which, if addressed, would enable them to 
take advantage of the opportunities in international trade in 
commodities, as well as to cope with the challenges of the current 
price cycle. 
 
Comment 
------- 
¶10.  The establishment of a multi-year experts group on commodities 
was one of the major objectives of the Africa Group during the Accra 
Ministerial meeting.  The Africa Group also succeeded in having 
UNCTAD's commodities branch reestablished as an autonomous, higher 
profile, unit reporting directly to the UNCTAD SG Dr. Supachai.  So 
far work of the commodities unit and expert group seems to be 
constructive, but it warrants close monitoring as historically, 
UNCTAD has looked to price agreements and buffer funds rather than 
free market solutions to promote price stability among commodities' 
producers. 
 
¶11.  The Trade Commission meeting May 11-15 will consider the 
following proposals for work by the Commodities experts group, 
contained in report TD/B/C.I/MEM.2/5. 
 
¶12.  ACTION REQUESTED: Please advise Mission by May 8 whether the US 
would support or object to any of the points below. 
 
The Commission may wish to: 
(a) Welcome the call by experts on the international community to 
address the vulnerability of commodity-dependent developing 
countries to both positive and negative price shocks (para. 4 of the 
report); 
(b) Take note of the consensus among experts that - while excessive 
speculation was partly responsible for the recent wide price swings 
- an overregulation of markets could be detrimental, since 
speculators provided the liquidity required by futures markets for 
hedging. However, futures markets should nonetheless be better 
regulated so that they remained a reliable barometer of price for 
market participants. (para 11 of the report); 
(c) Endorse the emphasis by experts that a strategic approach to the 
commodity sector by commodity-dependent developing countries (CDDCs) 
should involve investments in both vertical and horizontal 
diversification, and that technical support, including from UNCTAD, 
would be necessary to support this strategy. (para 23 of the 
report); 
(d) Endorse the view of experts that transparency in the management 
of windfall incomes from natural resource exploitation is essential 
to prevent their misapplication (para 37 of the report) and that the 
principles of good governance should extend beyond transparency in 
the management of revenues to include the appropriate management of 
the social and environmental cost and benefits related to extractive 
industries (para 20 of the report); 
(e) Reconfirm the need for commodity policy issues to be 
incorporated in rules of the international trading system. (para 41 
of the report); 
(f) Take note of the emphasis of experts on the need to pursue 
mechanisms to stabilize commodity prices for producers and producing 
countries, and for stronger regulation of commodity production and 
trade throughout commodity chains. (para. 43 of the report); 
(g) Request UNCTAD to undertake a comprehensive review of all 
current multilateral and bilateral assistance to CDDCs (para 45 of 
the report); 
(h) Endorse the view of experts that initiatives at the regional and 
subregional levels should be encouraged to address the energy 
security challenge of net fuel-importing developing countries  (para 
48 of the report); 
(i) Approve the suggestion of experts that UNCTAD should organize 
joint taining workshops and other capacity-building activties to 
promote a "green revolution" in food-defcit developing countries 
(para 50 of the report); 
nd Comment and Action Request. 
 
STORELLA#