Documents

Tentative timetable
Wednesday, 15 May
10:00–13:00   Informal meetings / working session (no interpretation)  15:00–18:00  Items 1–5
Thursday, 16 May
10:00–13:00  Items 6–7   15:00–18:00   Items 7(cont.)–8
Friday, 17 May
10:00–13:00  Items 8(cont.)–13  15:00–18:00  Item 14

Tentative timetable
Monday, 6 May
10:00–13:00  Items 1–5    15:00–18:00   Item 5
Tuesday, 7 May
10:00–13:00  Item 5     15:00–18:00   Items 6–7
Wednesday, 8 May 
10:00–13:00  Items 8–11   15:00–18:00  Item 12

List of Participants to the 2022 GE.6 session.

Increasing demand, changing climates and technologies, urbanisation, growing populations, societal demand and inequalities, globalisation and other megatrends are putting enormous pressure on natural resources, in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) region and elsewhere. There are many complex policy issues and difficult choices to be made regarding their conservation and use. These choices necessitate a comprehensive nexus approach that can address the many interactions and trade-offs involved.  

These challenges are recognised at the international level where, amongst other things, the integrative character of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for an assessment of the linkages and complementarities but also of the possible conflicts that exist between different Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets. Many other policy instruments and commitments recognise the interlinkages between individual sectors. 

The ECE has a specific contribution to make on these questions, as its subprogrammes work on many aspects of natural resources that can be brought together through a nexus approach.

The Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards held its Informal Virtual Consultations on 16 and 17 November 2020.

The meeting was chaired by Ms. Agnieszka Sudol, Chairperson of the Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards (WP.7). 

The Chief of the Market Access Section of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Mr. Mika Vepsäläinen, welcomed the delegates to the Informal Virtual Consultations. He thanked all panellists and the secretariat for the organization of the Roundtable on Food for Partnerships - Sustainable, Resilient and Climate-proof Food Supply Chains on 16 November 2020 which had highlighted the complexity of food lost along the supply chain from farm to fork.  He also stressed that the deliberations had shown that food loss and waste reduction strategies required close collaboration between the public and the private sector. He highlighted how FeedUP@UN could enhance the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and encouraged delegations to inform their national partners about tests and pilot use of the tool. 

He expressed his gratitude towards all delegations for their support of the work of UNECE in these challenging times and commended the Working Party’s Specialized Sections for their achievements in 2020. All their sessions had been held, standards and guides had been revised and adopted, and new areas of work had been discussed. 

He also informed delegations that the UNECE had joined the United Nations Issuebased Coalition (IBC) on Sustainable Food Systems to support the United Nations country teams and Resident Coordinators during the current crisis and the recovery phase. Discussions were under way on how the UNECE via the IBC could contribute to the United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021. He stressed that while these times called for better crisis response, recovery and resilience building, in the long run, sustainable food systems with all their dimensions (economic, social and environmental) needed to be integrated into national and international food policy agendas.     

The informal consultations will be held as a virtual Webex meeting. The meeting will start at 14:00 CET (Geneva-time) on 16 November 2020 with a Public-Private Roundtable on 16 November 2020.  I. Provisional agenda 1. Adoption of the agenda. 2. Matters arising since the last session: (a) United Nations, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and subsidiary bodies;  (b) Recent developments in other organizations.  3. Sustainable development, food systems and circular economy.  4.  Capacity-building and promotional activities.  5. Electronic quality certificates for fresh fruit and vegetables. 6. Other business. 7. Election of officers. 8. Closing.

See also the page dedicated to the side event and the page dedicated to the 86th ITC Annual Session.

Event

• Meeting of the Team of Specialists on Sustainable Forest Products | UNECE