ABSTRACT
Active participation in the negotiating process within the Group of 77 and China proved difficult for Jamaica. In Jamaica women play lead roles in several government organizations and a number of households are headed by women. Jamaica’s delegation to the first session was made up of three women, and at the resumed extraordinary meeting of the Conference of the Parties two women. The biotechnology industry had been lobbying governments of the developing countries, hoping to persuade them to accept their positions on what would later become core issues, such as the treatment of commodities in the protocol. During the resumed session in Montreal, Jamaica, along with Cameroon, was given the lead role in representing the group in the informal consultations on the issues of scope, transit and contained use. Jamaica and Brazil were spokespersons for Group of Latin America and the Caribbean both in Vienna and in Montreal.
