South and Southeast Asia Regional Consultation
The second Regional Consultation took place in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on May 30-31, 2006, and was hosted by the Southeast Asia office of the Heinrich-Boell-Foundation. Some 35 participants joined the consultation, including participants from Thailand, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, The Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia. Participants discussed a draft version of the “Key Messages Paper” and gave valuable feedback on their overall impressions of the project. In addition, participants discussed once again the issue of the “Role of Exports”, i.e. which role agricultural exports may play in a country’s overall development, and which experiences have been had with exports in Asia. Discussion then continued with the “Governance of Imports” issue. Participants spoke about their experiences market liberalization and policies to regulate and govern imports, and which instruments would be needed in the future. In addition, the issue of “Market Concentration” was on the agenda, looking at the role of transnational corporations within the food chain, respective experiences with corporate practices in the region, and approaches on how to tackle concentration of power in agricultural markets.
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North American Regional Consultation 
On September 12, 2006, the EcoFair Trade Dialogue conducted the North American Regional Consultation in Washington, DC, United States. This stakeholder dialogue served to discuss the ideas and proposals developed so far within the EcoFair Trade Dialogue, in order to get feedback and to further develop the ideas and proposals along with the experiences and realities in North America, to “root” the project and some of its messages and results in that region, and to get some information about problems and proposals specific to the North American context.
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left: Lorenzen and Pijnappel at Brazil Consultation; right: Expert Panel on Field Trip in Senegal

 

West Africa Regional Consultation
The first Regional Consultation took place in Mbour, Senegal, back to back with the fourth Expert Panel meeting. About 25 participants from six French-speaking West African countries ensured unique views and feedback to the process. The consultation was hosted by the West Africa representative of MISEREOR. Three issues were on the agenda. Participants considered the experiences made in the protection of local markets and small farmers, and the effects trade liberalization has had in the past. It also focused on whether such a thing as “market ownership” exists, and how this relates to export opportunities and the need to access other (Northern) markets. The discussion concluded in considering instruments for the governing of imports, while still allowing for a fair and non-discrimina-tory trade regime. Second, participants considered their experiences with agricultural exports, and discussed what kinds of exports are desirable, and what kind of exports are have proved rather detrimental? The discussion aimed at setting out criteria for exports in order to ensure their contribution to sustainability and long-term rural development.

 

South America Regional Consultation
On the 7th and 8th of August, 2006 the EcoFair Trade Dialogue conducted the South America Regional Consultation in Curitiba, Brazil. Participants were mostly from Cono Sur countries, with some participants from adjacent countries. Issues on the Agenda were again the Role of Exports for sustainable rural development. Participants were also confronted with the idea of Qualified Market Access, an instrument which would seek to set sustainability standards for imports, while products not complying with the standards would face additional tariffs; the revenue from the tariffs would then potentially be collected into a fund that promotes sustainable rural development world wide. In addition, the instrument of Supply Management was presented, and participants discussed potential effects if such an instrument were to be implemented, even within countries like Brazil or Argentina.
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