| Sumario: | The following provides highlights and summary points from a two-day informal workshop
from 29-30 September 2014 held at Bioversity International in Maccarese, Italy. The
workshop was attended by 24 participants, invited in their individual capacity, from: civil
society; farmers organizations; private sector (both from associations and companies of
various sizes); scientists; and developed and developing countries - each of whom shared
their individual and personal perspectives on a range of options to improve the functioning
of the multilateral system.
The objective of the workshop was to provide an opportunity for those involved
in conserving, using, improving, sharing, and commercializing products containing PGRFA
to engage in informal discussion on the multilateral system, with the aim of contributing to
the ongoing deliberations of the Ad Hoc Open Ended Working Group to Enhance the
Functioning of the MLS (WG-EFMLS).
To help inform and stimulate discussion, the workshop opened with remarks from a diverse
set of participants who shared their personal reflections on the ideal multilateral system
(MLS) with the aim of helping to stimulate creative solutions among the group. Participants
also made use of a background context paper prepared by Bioversity International (included
in Annex I) to help inform and organize the discussion. The background paper was
organized into two parts: 1) options to increase users’ financial contributions to the Benefit
Sharing Fund (BSF); and 2) revisions to increase enhanced functioning of the MLS, with
particular focus on increasing de facto availability/access. Each part included a number of
options for modifying the MLS that were explored in greater detail during small group
discussions.
This summary aims to reflect, without personal attribution, the key topics of discussion and
the diversity of views expressed during the workshop.
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