ABSTRACT
Canada plans to play an active role in international activities aimed at assisting countries to implement the protocol and, as host country to the Permanent Secretariat of the Biodiversity Convention in Montreal, to assist the Secretariat in fulfilling its role. The Cartagena Protocol negotiators provided a remarkable array of negotiating techniques, each important in its own way. The working group chaired by Denmark’s Veit Koster had spent the initial years sorting out basic structure and approach for the protocol and identifying the tough issues. The most difficult remaining issues were the trade-related ones involving agricultural commodities. Canada was in unique position: it chaired and was lead spokesperson for the Miami Group in the negotiations and was probably the only developed country, in the near term, to become a party to the protocol which was actually carrying out a significant trade in living modified organisms. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the protocol will be its relationship with international trade rules.
