ABSTRACT
One continuing source of frustration, however, was the disparity between what delegates would say to Global Industry Coalition representatives in private conversations and what they would say or condone by their silence in the negotiations. Balancing the disappointments and frustrations, however, was the camaraderie that developed over the years, both within the private sector group and beyond it. On many occasions over the years, developing country delegates approached members of the private sector for information about the latest biotechnological developments and activities in their own countries. By the Cartagena meeting in February 1999, the private sector was well organized: it had representatives from developed and developing countries and from a broad spectrum of interested industries, including the farming community, seed companies, technology companies, pharmaceutical companies, forestry, commodity traders and shippers and food manufacturers.
